On Tuesday, President Joe Biden defended the handling of the delta variant that is sweeping through unvaccinated areas across the country.
Biden spoke shortly after the Senate passed a bipartisan bill on infrastructure that he supported. Biden was asked whether his administration had acted too slowly in recommending the reimposition of face mask requirements and other distancing steps to slow down the spread of this highly transmissible variant.
Biden stated that the issue is not the variant, but the unwillingness of 90 million eligible Americans against COVID-19.
Biden stated that “We knew how this variant spread” and that vaccines could prevent it from spreading. “The disappointing thing is that people are not more willing to receive the vaccine.
Here’s WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING.
MILWAUKEE — To attend one of the most popular music festivals in the country, attendees will need to have either a positive or COVID-19 vaccine.
Summerfest organizers in Milwaukee have released a revised entry policy on Tuesday. The festival organizers announced Tuesday that anyone attending the lakeside festival must show proof of vaccination or a negative result from a COVID-19 blood test within 72 hours.
The annual concert is September 2 through 4, 9 to 11 and 16 to 18.
Similar restrictions were imposed by Lollapalooza last month, the large festival that takes place on Chicago’s lakefront. The requirements for testing or vaccinations were also announced by the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee on Tuesday.
OMAHA (Neb. Nebraska’s largest school district will require that students wear masks indoors once they return to class next week.
Omaha Public Schools Board voted 8-1 Monday for all students to wear masks inside schools, effective Tuesday, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
In an effort to combat the increasing spread of COVID-19, the resolution noted recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that recommended universal masking for all staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools.
Omaha joins the growing number of Nebraska schools that require face masks for school starting this fall.
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O’FALLON (Mo. Missouri — Over 375,000 Missourians have enrolled in the COVID-19 vaccination lottery program. However, vaccines still lag, particularly in rural areas.
Officials from the state said Friday will be the first drawing of five. 800 adults will be awarded $10,000 cash prizes and 100 children aged 12-17 will receive education savings accounts valued at $10,000. The deadline for entries to the first drawing is Wednesday. Only people who have received vaccinations are eligible.
Republican Governor The incentive program was announced by Mike Parson last month. Robert Knodell (acting director of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services), said that approximately 120,000 people had registered within 24 hours of the announcement. In addition, vaccinations have increased nearly 50% in the last month.
However, Missouri is still behind most other states when it comes to vaccinations. According to the COVID-19 dashboard, 49.4% Missourians have received at least one shot. This is nearly 10 percentage points lower than the national average. In 14 Missouri counties, less than 25% have vaccinated.
The virus’ delta variant continues to cause serious illness and new cases. On Tuesday, the state reported 1,754 confirmed cases and 1,880 new cases per day, bringing the total number of pandemics to 589.733.
The state also reported 142 deaths, including one in June and 105 in July that had not been previously reported. In total, 9970 Missourians have died due to COVID-19. In every part of the state, hospitals are overflowing with patients. Statewide, the capacity of intensive care units is 17%.
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WASHINGTON — All teachers and local government workers in Washington, D.C. must be fully immunized by Sept. 19.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s policy, announced Tuesday, largely mirrors those adopted recently by the federal government and U.S. military. Individuals who choose not to receive the vaccine will have to submit for weekly self-testing.
Teachers in D.C.’s strong charter school network are exempt from the policy. They account for about half of D.C.’s students. However, it was approved by the local teachers union as well as the local AFL-CIO chapter.
In D.C., and in the larger DMV region of northern Virginia or southern Maryland, virus metrics have risen. Health officials claim that breakthrough infections in the unvaccinated are more common than those among the vaccinated. However, they are less common and are often milder.
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ANCHORAGE (AK) — Alaska’s largest school district superintendent says she is not going to reexamine a policy that required staff and students to wear masks indoors. However, Anchorage’s new mayor has asked the district to “immediately reconsider” this policy.
Superintendent Deena bishop said Monday that it was a top priority for her to keep schools open so students can learn and engage with their peers.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines, properly masked students won’t be required to quarantine if they are deemed close to an infected person. I want to offer a high-quality education to students. Schools must keep their doors open in order to achieve this goal. This goal can be achieved by masking.
Mayor Dave Bronson, who took office July 1, has opposed COVID-19 restrictions and mask mandates and criticizing the city’s previous restrictions was a central part of his mayoral campaign platform, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Bronson stated in a Facebook post that he was against “mandates masquerading our residents or children.”
Bronson stated that Anchorage residents should have the freedom to make decisions about their health, their families and their children’s education. “I strongly oppose Anchorage School District’s mandate to return to school with a mask and urge them to reconsider.
Last week, the Anchorage School Board approved Bishop’s COVID-19 mitigation program. It requires masks in all cases inside district buildings. After hours of testimony, the Daily News reported that the approval was largely influenced by those who opposed the masking mandate. Classes will begin next Tuesday.
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RALEIGH (N.C.) — Interest in COVID-19 vaccinations has soared since North Carolina’s governor announced last week that his administration would increase the financial incentive to $25 to $100 for residents who are not vaccinated and come in for their first shot in this month.
Although there are many factors that influence people’s decision to get vaccinated such as the increasing spread of the contagious delta variant, state officials hope that even more people will opt to get vaccinated with the new Democratic Governor. Roy Cooper is following President Joe Biden’s lead to offer $100 rewards.
Catie Armstrong spoke on behalf of the state Department of Health and Human Services. She stated that many of the providers distributed their cards within a day of us announcing the $100 shift. “One of our providers went to distributing 1,000 cards per day and then went on to distribute 3,000 cards in just two days.”
Drivers who bring people in for their first shot are eligible for one $25 Prepaid Credit Card, while those who receive the shot will now be eligible for four $25 cards.
Since May, when the state’s pilot program was launched, approximately 38,000 $25 cards were issued. Armstrong stated that the cards are sent to vaccine providers weekly based on demand. She said that the department had ordered cards worth $1.8 million for delivery this week.
The data, which was collected by the state’s health department and shared with The Associated Press, shows that there were nearly 18,000 page views on the Incentives section of the website in July. The cash reward offered at $25 per click. Cooper announced last week that the section had seen 66,000 page views, a 269% increase.
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HELENA (Mont. HELENA, Mont. — Montana Health officials reported 493 COVID-19 new cases on January 31, the most number of cases ever recorded in one day.
Hospitalizations are on the rise as more than 150 people were admitted to hospital with the respiratory virus on Tuesday. This is almost triple the average 54 COVID-19 hospitalizations per day recorded in June. The number of hospitalizations remains below the record of more than 400 in November last year.
Montanans are less than half eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination. Nearly 90% of those who were hospitalized for the virus in July and June were not vaccinated.
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HARRISBURG (Pa.) — On Tuesday, the governor of Pennsylvania gave approximately 25,000 Pennsylvania prisoners and state health care workers a month to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and take weekly testing.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf gave them until September 7th to be fully vaccinated. It is not only for the Corrections Department. It also applies to state hospitals and veterans’ homes, community healthcare centers, prisons, and homes for people with intellectual disabilities.
Wolf offers all state employees an additional day of work to encourage vaccination rates.
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MADISON (Wis.) — Since the COVID-19 pandemic, overdoses of opioids have increased in Wisconsin, according to Tuesday’s report by the Department of Health Services.
Analyses show that overdoses increased from seven per 100,000 in January 2019 to 13 per 100,000 in March 2019. The rate of overdoses jumped to approximately 15 per 100,000 people in May 2020.
The report stated that stress from the pandemic, as well as a statewide stay at-home order, increased drug access and social isolation, may have contributed to more dangerous drug behavior. Data shows that overdoses increased sharply in the pandemic’s early days, but then declined and are now rising again.
Officials from DHS stated that they will use the $10.4 million Wisconsin received as part of a multistate settlement for prevention programs for Black and American Indian communities and to create health teams to travel to areas where there is an opioid epidemic. They will also reimburse counties for the cost of treating addicts and provide housing for those in recovery.
In February, McKinsey & Company settled allegations that it advised opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma how to maximize profits and urged doctors to prescribe more OxyContin.
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DES MOINES (Iowa) — Iowa has thrown out tens to thousands of expired COVID-19 doses. If the demand for the vaccine continues its slow pace, Iowa could release hundreds of thousands more.
Sarah Ekstrand, Iowa Department of Public Health spokesperson, told the Des Moines Register Monday that more than 81,000 doses of vaccine have been tossed in the state.
Last month, the department warned that the state could have to throw away around 217,000 doses of the drug by August 31 if demand is not high enough.
Officials claim they have seen more interest in shots lately, due to the fact that the number of cases has risen over the summer. However, demand is still much lower than it was in April.
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico will receive 8.5 million doses more of the COVID-19 vaccine from the United States as the delta variant drives its third wave of infected, Mexican officials announced Tuesday.
Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Affairs Secretary, stated that the U.S. government would send AstraZeneca as well as Moderna vaccines to Mexico. However, Mexican regulators have not yet approved the latter.
Ebrard stated that Kamala Harris, the U.S. Vice President, informed Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador about the new shipment during Monday’s call.
Hospitalizations and deaths in Mexico were not as high during the third wave. Hospitalizations are increasing in some parts of the country due to the rapid growth of infections and increased stress on the health system.
Mexico has received 91.2 millions doses of five vaccines. About 73 million have been used. A total of 51 million people have had at least one vaccine and 27 million are fully vaccinated.
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GENEVA — The World Health Organization’s top official described the gap in access to COVID-19 vaccines between rich and poor countries as “the moral disaster of our times” and stated that it was up to 20 influential policymakers, CEOs of pharmaceutical companies and political leaders to make a change.
Globally, over 4 billion coronavirus shots were administered to date. However, only 1% of these have been in Africa.
Dr. Bruce Aylward was a senior advisor to WHO’s director general and asked, “If we had tried withhold vaccines in parts of the globe, could it have made it worse than it is now?” during Tuesday’s social media session. Aylward stated that the responsible parties include leaders of the countries that contracted COVID-19 vaccines as well as the companies that produced the doses. He did not name them.
He said that “These 20 people are needed to lead the effort to change this disgraceful effort.” He cited the WHO goal of vaccinating at minimum 10% of all countries’ population. This is a target that is likely to be overlooked.
Aylward stated that WHO would launch an appeal Wednesday to raise nearly $8 billion for poor countries in order to survive the rising delta variant.
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BUCHAREST (Romania) — Tuesday’s announcement by the Romanian health minister stated that the coalition government had agreed to boost its national vaccination campaign. They offered food vouchers to people in return for getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
After a Tuesday government meeting, Ioana Mihaila, health minister, said that they had agreed to a proposal for meal vouchers for people who have been vaccinated.
According to the minister, food vouchers are likely to be worth approximately 20 euros ($23 USD) per full vaccination. This announcement is made as Romania, a country with more than 19million people, has only vaccinated 25% of its population. It is one of the most difficult vaccination campaigns in Europe.
The Eastern European country’s vaccine uptake has fallen dramatically since mid-May when it was at its highest level of 120,000 doses per day. It is now at around 15,000 doses per day. Tuesday’s announcement by the health ministry stated that 70% of doctors working in public hospitals had been vaccinated so far.
Romania has seen more than one million coronavirus cases since the outbreak and 34.323 people have died.
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BALTIMORE — Officials announced Tuesday that all visitors to the public school district of Maryland’s Baltimore County must now wear masks.
Superintendent Darryl Williams stated in a statement that universal masking is important in order to keep our community safe and healthy as we prepare for students and staff to return to school to learn in person.
Tuesday is the start of the mask requirement.
According to county figures, the local COVID-19 rate has increased from 17 cases per 100,000 to 61 cases for every 100,000 residents in the past three weeks.
Schools in neighboring Maryland counties also have requirements that masks be used in schools. Baltimore County is made up of suburban communities around Baltimore. It has recently reinstated indoor masking.
