Coronavirus

NYC Life Expectancy Down 4.6 Years Due To COVID

Gothamist reports: The COVID-19 pandemic shortened average life expectancy for New Yorkers by more than four years, hitting the city’s minority populations hardest, according to a report released on Friday. The study by the city’s health department looked at trends in births and deaths in New York City during 2020, the year when COVID-19 arrived. The analysis found that from …

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White House To Disband COVID Response Team In May

The Washington Post reports: The White House will shut down its covid response team after the public health emergency ends in May, with some staffers already departing and national coordinator Ashish Jha likely to leave the administration once his team is disbanded. The move to disband the White House covid team, created in February 2020 and expanded to about three …

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Study Points To “Raccoon Dogs” As Origin Of COVID

The Atlantic reports: Many scientists have stood by the notion that this outbreak—like most others—had purely natural roots. But that hypothesis has been missing a key piece of proof: genetic evidence from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, showing that the virus had infected creatures for sale there. This week, an international team of virologists, genomicists, and evolutionary …

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Creator Of Russian COVID Vaccine Found Strangled

The Daily Beast reports: A prominent scientist who helped develop Russia’s COVID vaccine, Sputnik V, was killed in his apartment in Moscow on Thursday, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Andrey Botikov, who worked as a senior researcher at the Gamaleya National Research Center for Ecology and Mathematics, was found dead in his apartment on Thursday. His …

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NYPD: Drop Mask And Show Face When Entering Stores

New York City’s CW affiliate reports: Customers should be required to show their faces before being allowed into businesses, NYPD officials urged on Tuesday. Removing a mask and allowing identification can be a “condition of entry,” NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said. Businesses can then allow people to put masks back on after they’ve shown their face. “We’re seeing …

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China To US: Stop “Smearing” Us With Lab Leak Claims

Axios reports: China’s Foreign Ministry claimed on Tuesday that the country has been “open and transparent” about its efforts to trace the origins of COVID-19 and accused the U.S. of politicizing the issue. The U.S. Department of Energy concluded in a “low confidence” assessment that the pandemic most likely started from a laboratory leak. China has repeatedly dismissed the lab …

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Rand Paul Demands Declassifying “COVID Leak” Docs

Fox News reports: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday called for the Biden administration to declassify government documents that reportedly show the Energy Department assessing the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China. Paul was hardly the only Republican lawmakers to call for answers and accountability following news of the Energy Department’s assessment. Congressional Republicans quickly …

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White House: Still No Consensus On Origin Of COVID

Politico reports: The U.S. government still has not reached a consensus on how the coronavirus pandemic started, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday — despite news reports that the Energy Department has concluded the virus most likely leaked from a lab in China. “The intelligence community and the rest of the government is still looking at this,” …

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Energy Dept Has “Low Confidence” In Lab Leak Theory

Axios reports: A new U.S. government assessment that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab leak in China has ignited yet another round of political furor around the issue, adding to many Republicans’ anger over how the pandemic was handled even as many scientists remain convinced the virus most likely originated naturally. Department of Energy scientists concluded in a “low confidence” …

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Woody Harrelson Delivers Anti-Vax Riff On SNL [VIDEO]

“So the movie goes like this. The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes. And people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs and keep taking them over and over. I threw …

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FDA Approves First At-Home Test For COVID And Flu

Via press release from the FDA: Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first over-the-counter (OTC) at-home diagnostic test that can differentiate and detect influenza A and B, commonly known as the flu, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Home Test is a single-use at-home test …

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GOP Ex-Sen. Jim Inhofe: I Retired Due To Long COVID

The Huffington Post reports: Former Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) attributed his decision to retire due to the long-term effects of COVID-19, telling local newspaper Tulsa World that certain symptoms were still affecting him day-to-day. Inhofe voted against multiple coronavirus aid packages meant to help Americans at the height of the pandemic. The 88-year-old did not say which symptoms he was …

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CA Population Down 500K Since Start Of Pandemic

The Los Angeles Times reports: The California exodus has shown no sign of slowing down as the state’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000. The population decrease was second only to New York, which lost about 15,000 more people than …

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House GOP Relaunches Probe Into Origin Of COVID

The Hill reports: House Republicans are officially relaunching their investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for testimony and information from Anthony Fauci and other current and former Biden administration officials. Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), the chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, …

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Mayor Drops Vaccine Mandate For NYC Employees

The New York Daily News reports: New York City municipal workers will no longer need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — and those fired for refusing to get immunized can reapply for their old jobs, Mayor Adams announced Monday in a major pandemic policy reversal. The vaccine mandate for the municipal workforce, which has been in place since November 2021, …

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DeSantis COVID “Expert” Wants Firing Squad For Fauci

Media Matters reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been featuring anti-vaxxer Dr. Jon Ward at COVID-19 events as he positions himself for a 2024 presidential run. Ward said in a podcast appearance last year that Dr. Anthony “Fauci should face a firing squad” because of his work. Ward is a Florida dermatologist who, as Politico recently reported, has become “a …

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Biden To End COVID Emergency Program In May

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared. The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal …

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WHO: Pandemic Near Key Immunity “Inflection Point”

The Associated Press reports: The coronavirus remains a global health emergency, the World Health Organization chief said Monday after a key advisory panel found the pandemic may be nearing an “inflexion point” where higher levels of immunity can lower virus-related deaths. Speaking at the opening of WHO’s annual executive board meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “there is no …

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Hannity Condemns Plan For Annual COVID Vaccine

“You can be fully vaccinated, fully boosted, have all the booster — booster 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. You can have natural immunity but you can still catch COVID. You can still get it and get sick. You can still transmit the virus to others. That’s what the science tells us. “Look at the recent findings that show that …

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FDA Expected To Propose Annual COVID Vaccinations

NPR reports: The Food and Drug Administration is considering a major shift in the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy. The goal is to simplify vaccination against COVID and perhaps adopt an approach similar to what is used for the flu vaccine, with annual updates to match whatever strain of the virus is circulating. Currently, people who want to be fully vaccinated …

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