Anthony Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant
U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that scientists need more information before drawing conclusions about omicron’s severity. Reports from South Africa, where it emerged and is becoming the dominant strain, suggest that hospitalization rates have not increased alarmingly. “Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said. “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to delta.” Fauci said the Biden administration is considering lifting travel restrictions against non-citizens entering the United States from several African countries. They were imposed as the omicron variant exploded in the region, but U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has blasted such measures as “travel apartheid.” “Hopefully, we’ll be able to lift that ban in a quite reasonable period of time,” Fauci said. “We all feel very badly about the hardship that has been put on not only on South Africa but the other African countries.” Omicron had been detected in about a third of U.S. states by Sunday, including in the Northeast, the South, the Great Plains, and the West Coast. Wisconsin, Missouri, and Louisiana were among the latest states to confirm cases. But delta remains the dominant variant, making up more than 99% of cases and driving a surge of hospitalizations in the north. National Guard teams have been sent to help overwhelmed hospitals in western New York, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker issued an emergency order requiring any hospitals facing limited patient capacity to reduce scheduled procedures that are not urgent. U.S. officials continued urging people to get vaccinated and to receive booster shots, as well as take precautions such as wearing masks when among strangers indoors, saying anything that helps protect against delta will also help protect against other variants. Even if omicron proves less dangerous than delta, it remains problematic, World Health Organization epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove told CBS “Face The Nation.” “Even if we have a large number of cases that are mild, some of those individuals will need hospitalizations,” she said. “They will need to go into ICU, and some people will die. … We don’t want to see that happen on top of an already difficult situation with delta circulating globally.” Two years into the outbreak, COVID-19 has killed over 780,000 Americans, and deaths are running at about 860 per day. More than 6,600 new hospital admissions are being reported daily, according to tracking data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. have dropped by about half since the delta peak in August and September, but at more than 86,000 new infections per day, the numbers are still high, especially heading into the holidays, when people travel and gather with family. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
White House details plan to vaccinate 28 million children age 5-11
Children ages 5 to 11 will soon be able to get a COVID-19 shot at their pediatrician’s office, local pharmacy, and potentially even their school, the White House said Wednesday as it detailed plans for the expected authorization of the Pfizer shot for elementary school youngsters in a matter of weeks. Federal regulators will meet over the next two weeks to weigh the safety and effectiveness of giving low-dose shots to the roughly 28 million children in that age group. Within hours of formal approval, which is expected after the Food and Drug Administration signs off and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel meets on Nov. 2-3, millions of doses will begin going out to providers across the country, along with the smaller needles needed for injecting young children. Within days of that, the vaccine will be ready to go into arms on a wide scale. “We’re completing the operational planning to ensure vaccinations for kids ages 5 to 11 are available, easy and convenient,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said. “We’re going to be ready, pending the FDA and CDC decision.” The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses three weeks apart and a two-week wait for full protection to kick in, meaning the first youngsters in line will be fully covered by Christmas. Some parents can hardly wait. Dr. Sterling Ransone said his rural Deltaville, Virginia, office is already getting calls from people asking for appointments for their children and saying, “I want my shot now.” “Judging by the number of calls, I think we’re going to be slammed for the first several weeks,” said Ransone, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Justin Shady, a film and TV writer in Chicago, said his 6-year-old daughter, Grey, got nervous when he told her she would be getting the shots soon. But he is bribing her with a trip to Disney World, and “she’s all in.” The family likes to travel, “we really just want to get back in the swing of seeing the world,” Shady said. As for youngsters under 5, Pfizer and Moderna are studying their vaccines in children down to 6 months old, with results expected later in the year. The Biden administration noted that the expansion of shots to children under 12 will not look like the start of the country’s vaccine rollout ten months ago when limited doses and inadequate capacity meant a painstaking wait for many Americans. The country now has ample supplies of the Pfizer shot to vaccinate the children who will soon be eligible, officials said, and they have been working for months to ensure widespread availability of shots. About 15 million doses will be shipped to providers across the U.S. in the first week after approval, the White House said. More than 25,000 pediatricians and primary care providers have already signed on to dispense the vaccine to elementary school children, the White House said, in addition to the tens of thousands of drugstores that are already administering shots to adults. Hundreds of school- and community-based clinics will also be funded and supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help speed the process. In addition to doctors’ offices, schools are likely to be popular spots for the shots. In Maryland, state officials have offered to help schools set up vaccination clinics. Denver’s public schools plan to hold mass vaccination events for young children, along with smaller clinics offering shots during the school day and in the evenings. Chicago’s public health department is working closely with schools, which have already been hosting vaccination events for students age 12 and older and their families. The White House is also preparing a stepped-up campaign to educate parents and children about the safety of the shots and the ease of getting them. As has been the case for adult vaccinations, the administration believes trusted messengers — educators, doctors, and community leaders — will be vital to encouraging vaccinations. Dr. Lisa Reed, medical director for family medicine at MAHEC, a western North Carolina safety net provider that serves patients from rural Appalachia and more urban communities such as the tourist town of Asheville, said it is going to take effort to get some families on board. Reed said she lives “in a community that has a lot of vaccine hesitancy, unfortunately.” “Some have lower health literacy or belong to ethnic groups that are more hesitant in general” because of a history of mistrust, she said. And Asheville, she said, has a sizeable population of well-educated adults who are longtime vaccine skeptics. While children run a lower risk than older people of getting seriously ill from COVID-19, at least 637 people age 18 or under have died from the virus in the U.S., according to the CDC. Six million U.S. children have been infected, 1 million of them since early September amid the spread of the more contagious delta variant, the American Academy of Pediatrics says. Health officials believe that expanding the vaccine drive will not only curb the alarming number of infections in children but also reduce the spread of the virus to vulnerable adults. It could also help schools stay open, and youngsters get back on track academically, and contribute to the nation’s broader recovery from the pandemic. “COVID has also disrupted our kids’ lives. It’s made school harder, it’s disrupted their ability to see friends and family, it’s made youth sports more challenging,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told NBC. “Getting our kids vaccinated, we have the prospect of protecting them, but also getting all of those activities back that are so important to our children.” Murthy said the administration, which is imposing vaccine mandates for millions of adults, is leaving it up to state and local officials to decide whether to require schoolchildren to get vaccinated. But he said such measures would be “a reasonable thing to consider.” “It’s also consistent with what we’ve done for other childhood vaccines, like measles, mumps, polio,” he said. The U.S. has
COVID-19 and pregnancy: Women regret not getting the vaccine
Sometimes when she’s feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby. Harrison was 29 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated when she got sick with COVID-19 in August. Her symptoms were mild at first, but she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Living in Phenix City, Alabama, she was intubated and flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where doctors delivered baby Lake two months early and put Harrison on life support. Kyndal Nipper, who hails from outside Columbus, Georgia, had only a brief bout with COVID-19 but a more tragic outcome. She was weeks away from giving birth in July when she lost her baby, a boy she and her husband planned to name Jack. Now Harrison and Nipper are sharing their stories in an attempt to persuade pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccinations to protect themselves and their babies. Their warnings come amid a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women that led to 22 pregnant women dying from COVID in August, a one-month record. “We made a commitment that we would do anything in our power to educate and advocate for our boy because no other family should have to go through this,” Nipper said of herself and her husband. Harrison said she will “nicely argue to the bitter end” that pregnant women get vaccinated “because it could literally save your life.” Since the pandemic began, health officials have reported more than 125,000 cases and at least 161 deaths of pregnant women from COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And over the past several months, hospitals and doctors in virus hot spots have reported a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women. With just 31% of pregnant women nationwide vaccinated, the CDC issued an urgent advisory on Sept. 29 recommending that they get the shots. The agency cautioned that COVID-19 in pregnancy can cause preterm birth and other adverse outcomes and that stillbirths have been reported. Dr. Akila Subramaniam, an assistant professor in the maternal-fetal medicine division of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said the hospital saw a marked rise in the number of critically ill pregnant women during July and August. She said a study there found the delta variant of COVID-19 is associated with increased rates of severe disease in pregnant women and increased rates of preterm birth. “Is it because the delta variant is just more infectious or is it because delta is more severe? I don’t think we know the answer to that,” Subramaniam said. When COVID-19 vaccines became available to pregnant women in their states this spring, both Harrison, 36, and Nipper, 29, decided to wait. The shots didn’t have final approval from the Food and Drug Administration and pregnant women weren’t included in studies that led to emergency authorization, so initial guidance stopped short of fully recommending vaccination for them. Pfizer shots received formal approval in August. The women live on opposite sides of the Alabama-Georgia line, an area that was hit hard by the delta variant this summer. While Harrison had to be put on life support, Nipper’s symptoms were more subtle. When she was eight months pregnant, she lost her sense of smell and developed a fever. The symptoms went away quickly, but Jack didn’t seem to be kicking as much as he had been. She tried drinking a caffeinated beverage: Nothing. She headed to the hospital in Columbus, Georgia, for fetal monitoring where medical staff delivered the news: Baby Jack was gone. “He was supposed to come into the world in three weeks or less,” Nipper said. “And for them to tell you there’s no heartbeat and there is no movement …” Nipper’s doctor, Timothy Villegas, said testing showed the placenta itself was infected with the virus and displayed patterns of inflammation similar to the lungs of people who died of COVID-19. The infection likely caused the baby’s death by affecting its ability to get oxygen and nutrients, Villegas said. The doctor said he has since learned of similar cases from other physicians. “We’re at that point where everybody is starting to raise some red flags,” he said. In west Alabama, Dr. Cheree Melton, a family medicine physician who specializes in obstetrics and teaches at the University of Alabama, said she and her colleagues have had about a half-dozen unvaccinated patients infected with COVID-19 lose unborn children to either miscarriages or stillbirth, a problem that worsened with delta’s spread. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking to tell a mom that she will never get to hold her living child,” she said. “We have had to do that very often, more so than I remember doing over the last couple of years.” Melton said she encourages every unvaccinated pregnant woman she treats to get the shots, but that many haven’t. She said rumors and misinformation have been a problem. “I get everything from, ‘Well, somebody told me that it may cause me to be infertile in the future to, ‘It may harm my baby,’” she said. Nipper said she wishes she had asked more questions about the vaccine. “Looking back, I know I did everything that I could have possibly done to give him a healthy life,” she said. “The only thing I didn’t do, and I’ll have to carry with me, is I didn’t get the vaccine.” Now home from the hospital with a healthy baby, Harrison says she feels profound gratitude — tempered with survivor’s guilt. “I cry all the time. Just little things. Feeding her or hugging my 4-year-old. Just the thought of them having to go through life without me and that’s a lot of people’s reality right now,” Harrison said. “It was very scary and it all could have been prevented if I had gotten a vaccination.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama health officials urge schools to keep mask mandates
Alabama health officials are urging schools to continue requiring masks despite a decline in COVID-19 cases in the state, which has one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates and worst death rates. The state department of public health said Tuesday nearly 23% of COVID infections in Alabama are among children up to the age of 17. As of Monday, at least 30 children were hospitalized for the disease, and three were on ventilators. “Consistent and correct mask use in schools has helped reduce the number of cases of COVID-19, helped schools remain open to in-person learning in Alabama, and helped prevent the consequences of this serious disease,” the department said in a news release. The release cited studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found masks were critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Alabama left masking decisions to local officials, resulting in a patchwork of rules that vary in districts just a few miles apart. While Birmingham city schools require face masks, nearby Vestavia Hills dropped its mandate and made face masks optional last week. Shelby County has said it will quit requiring facial coverings at the end of the month. Alabama has had 14,155 deaths related to COVID-19, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University. The death count is the 16th highest in the country overall and the fourth-highest per capita at nearly 290 deaths per 100,000 people. Health officials attribute much of the problem to Alabama’s vaccination rate, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks worst in the Southeast and among the lowest in the nation. Roughly 42% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has decreased by 1,397, a drop of about 36%, and hospitalizations have fallen below 1,500 after reaching nearly 2,900 on Sept. 1. Even with the improvement, Alabama ranked 10th nationally for the rate of new cases over the past week. There were 785 new cases per 100,000 people in Alabama over the past two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
U.S. has enough COVID-19 vaccines for boosters, kids’ shots
With more than 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines available, U.S. health authorities said they’re confident there will be enough for both qualified older Americans seeking booster shots and the young children for whom initial vaccines are expected to be approved in the not-too-distant future. The spike in demand — expected following last week’s federal recommendation on booster shots — would be the first significant jump in months. More than 70 million Americans remain unvaccinated despite the enticement of lottery prizes, free food or gifts, and pleas from exhausted health care workers as the average number of deaths per day climbed to more than 1,900 in recent weeks. Federal and state health authorities said the current supply and steady production of more doses can easily accommodate those seeking boosters or initial vaccination, avoiding a repeat of the frustratingly slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines across the country early this year. “I hope that we have the level of interest in the booster … that we need more vaccines,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday. “That’s simply not where we are today. We have plenty of vaccines.” Robust supply in the U.S enabled President Joe Biden this week to promise an additional 500 million of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world, doubling the United States’ global contribution. Aid groups and health organizations have pushed the U.S. and other countries to improve vaccine access in countries where even the most vulnerable people haven’t had a shot. Among the challenges states face is not ordering too many doses and letting them go to waste. Several states with low vaccination rates, including Idaho and Kansas, have reported throwing away thousands of expired doses or are struggling to use vaccines nearing expiration this fall. While most vaccines can stay on the shelf unopened for months, once a vial is opened the clock starts ticking. Vaccines are only usable for six to 12 hours, depending on the manufacturer, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Moderna vaccines come in vials containing 11 to 15 doses. Pfizer vials contain up to six doses and Johnson & Johnson vials five doses. “We are going to see more doses that go unused over time,” said Wisconsin’s health secretary, Karen Timberlake. “They come in multidose files. They don’t come in nice, tidy individual single-serving packages.” State health officials said they have tried to request only what health care providers and pharmacies expect to need from the federal supply. Those numbers have dwindled since the vaccines became widely available in early spring. But U.S. officials — holding out hope that some of the unvaccinated will change their minds — are trying to keep enough vaccines in stock so all Americans can get them. That balancing act is tricky and can lead to consternation around the globe as the U.S. sits on unused vaccines while many countries in places such as Africa can’t get enough vaccines. “Somebody sitting in a country with few resources to access vaccines, seeing people in the U.S. able to walk into a pharmacy and get that vaccine and choosing not to, I’m sure that’s causing heartache,” said Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation. Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, which represents the public health agencies of all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, said officials anticipate that on-hand doses of COVID-19 vaccines and manufacturers’ ability to supply more will meet needs across the country. “I think states have tried to plan as if everybody’s going to be offered a booster,” he said, suggesting they will be overprepared for the more narrow recommendations issued by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California, for example, estimated earlier this month that it would need to administer an extra 63 million doses by the end of 2022 — if initial shots for children under 12 were approved and boosters were open to everyone. U.S. health officials late Thursday endorsed booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine for all Americans 65 and older — along with tens of millions of younger people who are at higher risk from the coronavirus because of health conditions or their jobs. California, with nearly 40 million residents, has the lowest transmission rate of any state and nearly 70% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated. That leaves nearly 12 million people not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s health secretary, said the state will rely largely on pharmacies and primary care providers to give boosters to seniors while some large counties and health care groups will use mass vaccination sites. In Pennsylvania, more than 67% of residents older than 18 are fully vaccinated. Alison Beam, acting secretary of health, said health authorities now have “two missions”: Continuing to persuade people to get vaccinated and serving those eager to receive a booster or initial shots. “Pennsylvania is going to be prepared,” Beam said. “And we’re going to have the right level of vaccine and vaccinators to be able to meet that demand.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans
In his most forceful pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant. Speaking at the White House, Biden sharply criticized the roughly 80 million Americans who are not yet vaccinated, despite months of availability and incentives. “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” he said, all but biting off his words. The unvaccinated minority “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.” The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated. Biden is also signing an executive order to require vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers. Biden announced the new requirements in a Thursday afternoon address from the White House as part of a new “action plan” to address the latest rise in coronavirus cases and the stagnating pace of COVID-19 shots that has raised doubts among the public over his handling of the pandemic. Just two months ago, Biden prematurely declared the nation’s “independence” from the virus. Now, despite more than 208 million Americans having at least one dose of the vaccines, the U.S. is seeing about 300% more new COVID-19 infections a day, about two-and-a-half times more hospitalizations, and nearly twice the number of deaths compared to the same time last year. “We are in the tough stretch, and it could last for a while,” Biden said of the current state of the pandemic. After months of using promotions to drive the vaccination rate, Biden is taking a much firmer hand, as his aides blamed people who have not yet received shots for the sharp rise in cases that is killing more than 1,000 people per day and imperiling a fragile economic rebound. In addition to the vaccination requirements, Biden moved to double federal fines for airline passengers who refuse to wear masks on flights or to maintain face-covering requirements on federal property in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Biden announced that the federal government will work to increase the supply of virus tests and that the White House has secured concessions from retailers including Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger to sell at-home testing kits at cost beginning this week. The administration was also sending additional federal support to assist schools in safely operating, including additional funding for testing. And Biden will call for large entertainment venues and arenas to require vaccinations or proof of a negative test for entry. The requirement for large companies to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing for employees will be enacted through a forthcoming rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that carries penalties of $14,000 per violation, an administration official said. The White House did not immediately say when it would take effect but said workers would have sufficient time to get vaccinated. The rule would also require that large companies provide paid time off for vaccination. Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will extend a vaccination requirement issued earlier this summer — for nursing home staff — to other healthcare settings, including hospitals, home health agencies, and dialysis centers. Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services will require vaccinations in Head Start Programs, as well as schools run by the Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Education, affecting about 300,000 employees. Biden’s order for executive branch workers and contractors includes exceptions for workers seeking religious or medical exemptions from vaccination, according to Jen Psaki. Federal workers and contractors will have 75 days to get fully vaccinated. Workers who don’t comply will be referred to their agencies’ human resources departments for counseling and discipline, including potential termination. “We would like to be a model” to other organizations and businesses around the country, Psaki said of the federal workforce. An AP-NORC poll conducted in August found 55% of Americans in favor of requiring government workers to be fully vaccinated, compared with 21% opposed. Similar majorities also backed vaccine mandates for health care workers, teachers working at K-12 schools, and workers who interact with the public, as at restaurants and stores. Biden has encouraged COVID-19 vaccine requirements in settings like schools, workplaces, and university campuses, and the White House hopes the strengthened federal mandate will inspire more businesses to follow suit. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Board of Education was expected to vote on requiring all students 12 and older to be fully vaccinated in the nation’s second-largest school district. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said in late July it was requiring that all workers at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as its managers who travel within the U.S., be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. But the company stopped short of requiring shots for its frontline workers. CVS Health said in late August it would require certain employees who interact with patients to be fully vaccinated by the end of October. That includes nurses, care managers, and pharmacists. In the government, several federal agencies have previously announced vaccine requirements for much of their staff, particularly those in healthcare roles like the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Pentagon moved last month to require all service members to get vaccinated. Combined, the White House estimates those requirements cover 2.5 million Americans. Thursday’s order is expected to impact nearly 2 million more federal workers and potentially millions of contractors. Biden’s measures should help, but what’s really needed is a change in mindset for many people, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Record for virus patients in Alabama intensive care units
Alabama has set a new high for the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care, although the total number of hospitalized coronavirus patients remains slightly below the winter peak. The state on Sunday had 884 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, according to the Alabama Hospital Association, the highest number since the pandemic began. Dr. Don Williamson, the former state health officer who heads the organization, said the previous high was 848 in January, according to his numbers. “I clearly think that is a record,” Williamson said of the latest figure. The total number of the virus patients in state hospitals was 2,829 on Monday, still below the pandemic high-water mark of 3,087 set in January. “I’d love to think that we are not going to get to the 3,000 that we saw in January, but I don’t have a scientific reason to think we won’t,” Williamson said. The number of virus patients requiring intensive care is a worrying sign, but the state is seeing some improvements in other areas, including vaccination rates. While Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, the state moved out of last place to slightly ahead of Mississippi for the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 38.1% of Alabamians are fully vaccinated. With older populations more likely to be vaccinated, state hospitals say they are seeing more younger patients with COVID-19 as the contagious delta variant sweeps across unvaccinated groups. East Alabama Medical Center posted on social media about the age breakdown of ICU patients. Of the 25 COVID-19 patients in ICU at the hospital, 14 are under age 60. Of those 14, seven are in their fifties, four are in their forties and three are between the ages of 20 and 39. The hospital has 20 patients on ventilators, of which all but three are unvaccinated. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
CDC issues new eviction ban for most of U.S. through Oct. 3
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new eviction moratorium that would last until Oct. 3, as the Biden administration sought to quell intensifying criticism from progressives that it was allowing vulnerable renters to lose their homes during a pandemic. The ban announced Tuesday could help keep millions in their homes as the coronavirus’ delta variant has spread, and states have been slow to release federal rental aid. It would temporarily halt evictions in counties with “substantial and high levels” of virus transmissions and would cover areas where 90% of the U.S. population lives. The announcement was a reversal for the Biden administration, which allowed an earlier moratorium to lapse over the weekend after saying a Supreme Court ruling prevented an extension. That ripped open a dramatic split between the White House and progressive Democrats who insisted the administration do more to prevent some 3.6 million Americans from losing their homes during the COVID-19 crisis. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Joe Biden said he pushed the CDC to again consider its options. But he still seemed hesitant as to whether the new moratorium could withstand lawsuits about its constitutionality, saying he has sought the opinions of experts as to whether the Supreme Court would approve the measure. “The bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster,” Biden said. “But there are several key scholars who think that it may, and it’s worth the effort.” The president added that the moratorium — even if it gets challenged in court — “will probably give some additional time” for states and cities to release billions of dollars in federal relief to renters. Politically, the extension could help heal a rift with liberal Democratic lawmakers who were calling on the president to take executive action to keep renters in their homes. The administration had spent the past several days scrambling to reassure Democrats and the country that it could find a way to limit the damage from potential evictions through the use of federal aid. But pressure mounted as key lawmakers said it was not enough. Top Democratic leaders joined Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who has been camped outside the U.S. Capitol for several days. The freshman congresswoman once lived in her car as a young mother and pointed to that experience to urge the White House to prevent widespread evictions. As she wiped her eyes before a crowd at the Capitol after the CDC’s announcement, Bush said she was shedding “joyful tears.” “My God, I don’t believe we did this,” she said. “We just did the work, just by loving folks to keep millions in their homes.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was a day of “extraordinary relief.” “The imminent fear of eviction and being put out on the street has been lifted for countless families across America. Help is Here!” Pelosi said in a statement. Administration officials had previously said a Supreme Court ruling stopped them from setting up a new moratorium without congressional backing. When the court allowed the eviction ban to remain in place through the end of July by a 5-4 vote, one justice in the majority, Brett Kavanaugh, wrote that Congress would have to act to extend it further. But on Tuesday, the CDC cited the slow pace of state and local governments disbursing housing aid as justification for the new moratorium. Aside from the moratorium, Biden has insisted that federal money is available — some $47 billion previously approved during the pandemic — that needs to get out the door to help renters and landlords. “The money is there,” Biden said. The White House has said state and local governments have been slow to push out that federal money and is pressing them to do so swiftly. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen briefed House Democrats Tuesday about the work underway to ensure the federal housing aid makes it to renters and landlords. She provided data so that lawmakers could see how their districts and states are performing with distributing the relief, according to a person on the call. The treasury secretary tried to encourage Democrats to work together, even as lawmakers said Biden should act on his own to extend the eviction moratorium, according to someone on the private call who insisted on anonymity to discuss its contents. Yellen said on the call, according to this person, that she agrees “we need to bring every resource to bear” and that she appreciated the Democrats’ efforts and wants “to leave no stone unturned.” The CDC put the initial eviction ban in place as part of the COVID-19 response when jobs shifted, and many workers lost income. The ban was intended to hold back the spread of the virus among people put out on the streets and into shelters, but it also penalized landlords who lost income as a result. National Apartment Association president and CEO Bob Pinnegar said the organization “has always held the same position — the eviction moratorium is an unfunded government mandate that forces housing providers to deliver a costly service without compensation and saddles renters with insurmountable debt.” Democratic lawmakers said they were caught by surprise by Biden’s initial decision to end the moratorium even though the CDC indicated in late June that it probably wouldn’t extend the eviction ban beyond the end of July. Rep. Maxine Waters, the powerful chair of the Financial Services Committee, has been talking privately for days with Yellen and urged the treasury secretary to use her influence to prod states to push the money out the door. But Waters also called on the CDC to act on its own. After the CDC’s announcement Tuesday, Waters released a statement thanking Biden “for listening and for encouraging the CDC to act! This extension of the moratorium is the lifeline that millions of families have been waiting for.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Health officials recommend all Alabama students wear masks
Alabama public health officials are recommending that all students and teachers wear masks in the classroom because of a surge in COVID-19 cases, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The Alabama Department of Public Health will recommend universal masking in schools due to the high levels of COVID-19 in the state, department spokesperson Ryan Easterling said. The recommendation will be included in the “school toolkit,” suggesting guidelines to mitigate pandemic risk. “Schools can choose to follow guidelines or not. However, these guidelines represent the best evidence available to protect students, teachers, and staff by reducing the transmission of COVID-19, along with disease, potential hospitalization, and risk of death from this virus,” Easterling wrote in an email. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status. The recommendation comes amid a sharp uptick in COVID-19 fueled by the highly contagious delta variant of the virus. Some Alabama school systems have announced they will require students and teachers to wear face masks indoors following new federal guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Birmingham, Huntsville, Bessemer, and Opelika school systems are among those that have said that masks will be required indoors. A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Education said Tuesday that mask mandates will be a local decision unless they get specific new guidance from state officials. “Due to the upward trend of COVID transmission and the current local positivity rate, this decision is in the best interest of our students and staff at this time,” Opelika City Schools Superintendent Mark Neighbors said in a statement. However, state education officials so far are not requiring face coverings. “For the coming school year, face masks are not mandated in Alabama schools. That will remain the case unless there is specific guidance from the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) to suggest otherwise,” spokesperson Michael Sibley said Tuesday. “However, local superintendents and school boards can determine for themselves if they want to enforce masking. That would be a local decision.” State Health Officer Scott Harris said earlier this week that the state was waiting for the new CDC guidance before issuing their recommendations to school systems. “The issue of masks in schools is like everything else — highly controversial. They really shouldn’t be,” Harris said. A spokesperson for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last week told reporters that she was opposed to requiring masks in schools. Her office has not commented on the new CDC guidelines, but in an opinion piece published Tuesday by The Washington Post, Ivey promoted vaccinations over masks and distance learning. “Here is the truth: Closing businesses will not defeat covid-19. Wearing masks will not defeat covid-19. And keeping our students from in-classroom learning will not defeat covid-19,” Ivey wrote. Alabama has seen a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The number of people in state hospitals has risen to more than 1,000, the most the state has seen since winter when there were 3,000 people hospitalized at the pandemic’s peak. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Background check measure on guns included in spending bill
A measure strengthening the federal background check system for gun purchases will be included in the $1.3 trillion government spending bill being negotiated by congressional leaders, aides said Wednesday. The “Fix NICS” measure would provide funding for states to comply with the existing National Instant Criminal Background Check system and penalize federal agencies that don’t comply. The bipartisan measure was approved in the House, but stalled in the Senate amid concerns by some Republicans about restricting gun rights without due process and complaints by Democrats that it does not go far enough to address gun violence. The giant spending bill also includes money to improve school safety as Congress struggles to respond to the deadly assault on a Florida high school and other shootings. The money will be used to train school officials and law enforcement officers how to identify signs of potential violence and intervene early, install metal detectors and take other steps to “harden” schools to prevent violence. The House approved the STOP School Violence Act earlier this month, but the measure has not been taken up in the Senate. Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said she and other gun-control advocates would be disappointed if Fix NICS represents the strongest action Congress takes this year on guns. “It’s a tiny, baby step forward,” Brown said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. “We think it’s not far enough.” The Brady campaign has urged a three-point plan that includes expansion of background checks to cover gun purchases at gun shows and on the internet; banning new assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; and enabling court-issued restraining orders against people deemed a threat to themselves or others. The National Rifle Association backs Fix NICS as a way to add transparency and accountability to the background check system, but has pushed harder for a separate bill allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines. Lawmakers also were discussing a provision that would allow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do research on gun safety. A law adopted in the 1990′s blocks such research and prohibits the CDC from engaging in advocacy on issues related to guns. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama No. 1 in America for prescription opioid use
Alabama’s use of prescription opioids reached the highest in the country last year — 5.8 million prescriptions were written in 2015. Meanwhile, companies creating the prescription painkillers and their advocates have contributed more than $539,350 to Alabama candidates, and since 2006 have hired on average 18 lobbyists annually in the state to push their policies. Alabamians receive more prescription opioids per person than residents of any other state in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — equating to a rate of 1.2 prescriptions per person. By comparison, the national per capita use was 0.71 in 2015. A joint investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found organizations spent $880 million and hired an annual average of 1,350 lobbyists in state capitals around the country from 2006 through 2015. In contrast, groups seeking limits on opioid prescriptions spent about $4 million — more than 200 times less. Overdose deaths from prescription painkillers have skyrocketed nationwide since 2000. In recent years, the use of opioid pain relievers such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Lortab have been particularly common in the Yellowhammer State, contributing to the 723 drug-related deaths in 2014. In fact, there were 5,128 deaths from overdoses in Alabama from 2006 through 2014. The state’s death rate per 100,000 in 2014 was 14.9. The number of overdose deaths soared 82 percent from 2006 to 2014. However, the overdose deaths aren’t strictly limited to opioids, but the CDC has indicated prescription opioids and heroin account for the majority of drug deaths in the state.
