Should have made getting vaccinated a requirement for getting the stimulus check.Probably have to do a new stimulus with full vaccination required to get it.That should get the numbers to 80%
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/us/covid-case-hospitalizations-update.html ‘Turning the Corner’: U.S. Covid Outlook Reaches Most Hopeful Point Yet Cases and deaths have dipped, and vaccinations make scientists hopeful, even as variants mean the coronavirus is here to stay. After weeks of coronavirus patients flooding emergency rooms in Michigan, the worst Covid-19 hot spot in the nation, hospitalizations are finally falling. On some recent days, entire states, including Wisconsin and West Virginia, have reported zero new coronavirus deaths — a brief but promising respite from the onslaught of the past year. And in New York and Chicago, officials encouraged by the recent progress have confidently vowed to fully reopen in the coming weeks, conjuring images of a vibrant summer of concerts, sporting events and packed restaurants revving cities back to life. Americans have entered a new, hopeful phase of the pandemic. Buoyed by a sense that the coronavirus is waning, in part because of vaccinations, more people are shrugging off masks, venturing into restaurants and returning to their prepandemic routines. Mayors, governors and other local officials — once the bearers of grim news about the virus’s toll and strict rules for businesses — have joined in the newfound optimism, rapidly loosening restrictions. Public health experts remain cautious, but said that while they still expect significant local and regional surges in the coming weeks, they do not think they will be as widespread or reach past peaks. “We’re clearly turning the corner,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Across the country, the outlook for the pandemic has indeed improved, putting the United States in its best position against the virus yet. The nation is recording about 49,000 new cases a day, the lowest number since early October, and hospitalizations have plateaued at around 40,000, a similar level as the early fall. Nationwide, deaths are hovering around 700 a day, down from a peak of more than 3,000 in January. In the past, lulls in the pandemic were short-lived, giving way to the surge across the Sun Belt last summer, and the painful outbreak that stretched across the United States this winter. But now, there is one crucial difference: More than half of American adults — 148 million people — have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, perhaps the biggest reason experts are optimistic that the improved outlook may last. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have also fallen at a time when the weather is getting warmer, which, in many places, will allow people to spend more time outdoors, where the virus spreads less easily. The situation in the United States stands in stark contrast to other parts of the world, where many countries are still scrambling to secure access to vaccines. India remains in dire crisis, and thousands of people are dying each day in Brazil. In the United States, even as a sense of hope spreads, there remain strong reasons for caution. The pace of vaccinations is slowing, and experts now believe that herd immunity in the United States may not be attainable. More transmissible variants of the virus are also spreading, threatening to undermine the progress from vaccinations. That could leave the coronavirus infecting tens of thousands of Americans and killing hundreds more each day for some time. A modeling study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, citing relaxed restrictions and a new, contagious variant, suggested that cases could tick upward again in the coming weeks, before a sharp drop-off by July. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the C.D.C., said, “We are not out of the woods yet, but we could be very close.” Dr. Osterholm pointed to recent outbreaks in Minnesota, Michigan and Oregon as clues to how the pandemic might progress in the coming months. In pockets across the country, small outbreaks have continued to cause alarm. Infections are rising in places like Multnomah County, Ore., which contains Portland; Pueblo County, Colo.; Grand County, Utah; and Powell County, Ky. “What we’re going to see are more of these localized outbreaks that are going to require a response from governors and mayors,” he said. It is also possible that the virus could surge again more widely in the fall and winter, when viruses like the flu are typically dominant. For the moment, though, epidemiologists are uncharacteristically optimistic. “We’re in a really good spell and we can act accordingly,” said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Irvine, who said it made sense to loosen restrictions now, when the risk is lower than it might be this winter. The hopeful outlook has left some cities grappling with new tensions over an old topic: rules around masks. In Kenosha, Wis., this week, the Common Council rejected a push to remove a mask mandate even as the county health department said mass vaccination clinics would soon close because of dwindling demand. “It’s very tricky,” said Rocco LaMacchia, an alderman who was in favor of ending the mask requirement, saying he believed it should be up to individual business owners. “If I’m walking down the street, not wearing a mask, I don’t want people giving me dirty looks. I think in this community, eventually we’ll all get on the same page, but it’s going to take a lot of doing.” In parts of New York City, mask wearing has been ubiquitous throughout the pandemic. But even there, the scene is shifting amid C.D.C. recommendations that fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear a mask outdoors when alone or in small groups; on recent sunny days, large crowds have flocked to Central Park, and more and more, people are going maskless along sidewalks. New infections in New York fell by two-thirds in the past month, dipping to around 1,200 new cases a day. Citywide, the number of people hospitalized with the virus recently dropped to below 100 new cases a day. With 40 percent of adult New Yorkers fully vaccinated, the city is barreling toward a full reopening. Starting May 19, restaurants, stores, theaters and museums will be allowed to return to near full capacity for the first time since the pandemic began, and tickets for fall Broadway shows will go on sale this week. Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious-disease specialist and clinical professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health, said he was optimistic in the short term, with vaccinations continuing and warm weather luring Americans outdoors. But he said that he was worried about the virus’s current path of devastation through India and Latin America, and that he wondered if the United States was opening up too quickly, with 50,000 new cases still reported each day. (One year ago, the daily cases were half that number.) “There is a randomness to the way this virus has spread,” he said. “It flares in one place. It doesn’t progress smoothly through the entire country and entire world. The randomness is what makes me feel insecure.” In one example of that, Washington State has seen increasing case numbers and hospitalizations in recent weeks, despite rising vaccination numbers and restrictions that have left restaurants and other businesses operating at 50 percent capacity in much of the state. Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, the health officer in Seattle and King County, said there was no playbook for an endgame to this pandemic. But he urged people to get vaccinated. “I’m sure all of us want to avoid a long game of Whac-a-Mole with imposing and easing restrictions,” Dr. Duchin said. “Vaccination is the cure.” States where vaccinations are falling behind — particularly in the South — could be especially prone to outbreaks in the weeks ahead, health experts say. Texas, which was at the center of a harsh outbreak last summer, is trailing the national average in vaccinations, with 39 percent of people receiving at least one shot. In Mississippi and Louisiana, about a third of people have gotten their first shot. “Last summer, things were going pretty well around this time,” said Dr. Tara C. Smith, a professor of epidemiology at Kent State University who studies infectious diseases. “As it got a lot hotter in the South and the Southwest, people were inside with air-conditioning, and you saw cases go up. Those are places that are lagging behind a bit in vaccinations. I don’t think it will be as bad as before, but I don’t think this is over yet.” Still, after a deluge of illness and death over the past year, the headway is encouraging. Los Angeles County made headlines with the news that it had reported zero new deaths on Sunday and Monday. The milestone was brief — the county reported 18 deaths on Tuesday — yet it was notable for a metropolis the size of Los Angeles, home to 10 million people. Only a few months ago, hospitals, ambulance services and funeral homes were overwhelmed, and more than 200 people were dying every day in Los Angeles County. “It’s like day and night,” said Paul Huon, chief executive of Community Hospital of Huntington Park, a hospital there that was so overrun with coronavirus cases this winter that it set up two tents in a parking lot as overflow. Multiple people were dying of Covid-19 during every nursing shift. Now, the tents are no longer needed, and the hospital is down to two coronavirus patients. Both are expected to survive.
Now that Joe's saved those who want to be saved in America, he's out to rescue the world: https://apnews.com/article/donald-t...lth-business-fe651a2f89a06c2af271a72410bbb039 Biden move to share vaccine designed to spread US influence WASHINGTON (AP) — It won’t speed the manufacture of vaccines. It enraged the developers who delivered lifesaving doses in record time. But President Joe Biden’s decision to support waiving intellectual property rights for coronavirus shots had a broader purpose: to broadcast his administration’s commitment to global leadership. More than a month of internal debate led up to Biden’s decision this week to endorse international calls to strip patent protections for vaccines. The policy shift, embraced by many charitable service organizations around the world and liberals at home, wasn’t new. Biden endorsed it during his campaign for the White House. But the idea was the subject of pitched discussions inside the administration over how best to bring the pandemic to an end while restoring U.S. influence abroad. In the best case, officials acknowledge it will take at least a year for any additional vaccines to be produced due to the change. Key European leaders are adamantly opposed to the waivers, and securing the required consensus at the World Trade Organization many never happen. The specialized production, particularly of the cutting-edge mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, would take even longer. Moreover, the matter could become less pressing if vaccine manufacturers can produce enough to satisfy international demand themselves. To Biden, White House officials said, that’s largely beside the point, as officials cast the decision as indicative of the president’s efforts to return the U.S. to the position of leadership after four years of unilateralism and protectionism under former President Donald Trump. “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday in announcing the move. The announcement was met with surprise and disappointment by some of Biden’s closest European allies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel quickly weighed in against it, with a government spokesman saying it would cause “severe complications” for the production of vaccines. The timing of the decision also blindsided the vaccine companies, which had aggressively discouraged the administration from making a choice they feel will hurt American producers. Officials noted, however, that Tai held more than two dozen meetings with stakeholders, including the drug makers. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also opposed the plan, but was excluded from the final meeting, two people familiar with the decision-making process but not authorized to speak publicly about private deliberations said on condition of anonymity. Other White House officials highlighted the practical limitations of Biden’s decision, but the symbolism won the day. Trade groups warned it could curtail future investment in lifesaving drugs, and vaccine manufacturers and some Republican lawmakers warned that it would amount to a giveaway of American technological knowhow to China. Vaccine manufacturing historically has not been a huge profit driver for drug makers. “The Chinese Communist Party is already celebrating this gift from President Biden,” tweeted Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, as he highlighted a comment from a Chinese official praising Biden’s action. A vaccine manufactured by a Chinese company was given emergency use authorization Friday by the World Health Organization, potentially creating a pathway for millions of the doses to reach needy countries through a U.N.-backed program rolling out coronavirus vaccines. The decision by a WHO technical advisory group — a first for a Chinese vaccine — opens the possibility that Sinopharm’s offering could be included in the U.N.-backed COVAX program in coming weeks or months and distributed through UNICEF and the WHO’s Americas regional office. But U.S. vaccine manufacturers also warned that the Biden administration’s move could hurt the global supply of shots in the near to moderate term. The primary obstacle to vaccine production, they’ve argued, remains production bottlenecks and shortages of the specialized supplies needed to make the shots — a challenge that could become more acute if other countries hoard them in anticipation of trying to make their own doses at home. The Pfizer vaccine, for instance, has more than 200 components, many of which are in demand around the world. Some in the Biden White House, in addition to noting that the president pledged to do this during the campaign, also believe that it creates a low stakes political victory. They said the decision, which has been applauded by some on the left, is good Democratic politics and that few will be outraged on the behalf of the drug companies, even though those firms have been praised as heroes of the pandemic. White House aides maintain that Biden’s action is limited to COVID-19 vaccines because of the scale of the pandemic, but some progressives who have pushed to have the government regulate the price of prescription drugs saw an opening. “Here’s why Pharma’s really really whining about the COVID vaccine patents: the government might finally have the spine to lower drug prices here at home,” tweeted Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday. “And it should.” “President Biden can lower drug prices by producing drugs like insulin, naloxone, and EpiPens at low costs,” she said. “And he doesn’t need Congress to do it — he can use existing compulsory licensing and march-in authorities to bypass patents for public health needs.” The debate over the inoculations comes as the administration set a new goal to deliver at least one shot to 70% of adult Americans by July Fourth as Biden tackles the vexing problem of winning over the skeptics and those unmotivated to get vaccinated. Demand for vaccines has dropped off markedly nationwide, with some states leaving more than half their allotment of doses unordered. Already more than 56% of American adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and nearly 105 million are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is currently administering first doses at a rate of about 965,000 per day — half the rate of three weeks ago, but almost twice as fast as needed to meet Biden’s target. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/08/pope-francis-backs-biden-call-to-waive-covid-vaccine-patents.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/13/9965...p-wearing-masks-indoors-and-outdoors-cdc-says Fully Vaccinated People Can Stop Wearing Masks Indoors And Outdoors, CDC Says The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that fully vaccinated adults can safely resume activities indoors or outdoors without masks or distancing, in gatherings large or small. The announcement marks a major milestone in the effort to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced the new guidance Thursday. "You can do things you stopped doing because of the pandemic," Walensky sai
Joe has a message - "Get vaccinated biatches" Biden's COVID warning: Unvaccinated 'will end up paying the price' https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-covid-warning-unvaccinated-paying-the-price
Well maybe this is the Hunter Biden vaccine plan... Las Vegas strip club offering COVID-19 vaccines https://www.fox5vegas.com/coronavir...cle_cd28c42a-b74e-11eb-a393-8705101ed69b.html
Hunter will end out like that woman who unintentionally got the equiv of six covid shots the other day. Yeh, things you will never hear Hunter Biden say: "They are giving away free covid shots at the strip club. I am hoping it is the JandJ because I don't want to have to make two trips."
Interesting that his Twitter profile title says "US Government Official", and not POTUS. Was that his choice, or Twitter's? I don't use Twitter, so don't know how that titling/category thing works.