Tag Archives: COVID

At Least 26 Mississippi Lawmakers Now COVID Positive

The Associated Press reports: Packed elevators and crowded committee rooms. Legislators sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the House and Senate floor. People standing close to each other and talking, sometimes leaning in to whisper, without a mask in sight. Those were common scenes at the Mississippi Capitol in June — a month that saw a historic vote to remove the Confederate emblem …

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RNC Seeks Outdoor Venue For Jacksonville Convention

The Washington Post reports: The Republican convention in Jacksonville, Fla., next month could be moved to an outdoor stadium as cases of the novel coronavirus in the state increase, according to several officials with knowledge of the plans. While no decision has been made, Republican officials are studying two outdoor professional sports stadiums near the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena where …

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Labor Dept Reports 1.3M New Jobless Claims For Week

Business Insider reports: US weekly jobless claims totaled 1.3 million in the week that ended Saturday, the Labor Department said Thursday. That came in lower than the consensus economist estimate of 1.38 million compiled by Bloomberg. In just a few months, the roughly 50 million unemployment claims filed during the coronavirus pandemic have far surpassed the roughly 37 million during …

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Junior’s COVID+ Girlfriend Feeling “Really Pretty Good”

The Hill reports: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser for President Trump’s reelection campaign and the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., revealed Wednesday evening that she is feeling “really pretty good” after she tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. Guilfoyle told the Trump campaign’s online show “The Right View” that “I’m doing my best and following my doctor’s orders.” “So …

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Lawsuit Filed To Stop Jacksonville GOP Convention

CNN reports: Several attorneys in Jacksonville, Florida, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city in an attempt to block the Republican National Convention from occurring there amid the coronavirus pandemic. The complaint, filed in Duval County, lists many reasons against Jacksonville hosting the event, including that it would be “a nuisance injurious to the health (and) welfare” of the city’s …

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TEXAS: Houston Officials Cancel GOP State Convention

The Texas Tribune reports: The Republican Party of Texas’ in-person convention next week has been canceled, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday. The news came after Turner directed the city’s legal department to work with the Houston First Corp., which operates the George R. Brown Convention Center, to review the contract with the state party. Turner said officials with Houston …

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Bolsonaro Vetoes COVID Aid For Brazil’s Indigenous People, Told Staff “Wearing Masks Is A Faggot Thing”

The Associated Press reports: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday vetoed provisions of a law that obligated the federal government to provide drinking water, disinfectants and a guarantee of hospital beds to indigenous communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil’s indigenous population of roughly 850,000 is more vulnerable to the COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as they live …

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Five Republican Senators To Skip GOP Convention

Axios reports: At least five GOP senators have said they will not attend next month’s Republican National Convention in Jacksonville either due to coronavirus concerns or political reasons. For some, like 86-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and 80-year-old Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the decision not to attend underscores broader concerns about holding mass gatherings in the coronavirus era. For others, …

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WH Hopes Americans “Grow Numb” To Death Toll

The Washington Post reports: Trump’s advisers are seeking ways to reframe his response to the coronavirus — even as the president himself largely seeks to avoid the topic because he views it as a political loser. They are sending health officials to swing states, putting doctors on TV in regional markets where the virus is surging, crafting messages on an …

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Pfizer COVID Vaccine Shows Early Promise [VIDEO]

STAT News reports: An experimental Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the drug giant Pfizer and the biotech firm BioNTech spurred immune responses in healthy patients, but also caused fever and other side effects, especially at higher doses. The first clinical data on the vaccine were disclosed Wednesday in a paper released on medRXiv, a preprint server, meaning it has not …

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Arizona Reports Record Cases, Gov Says Stay At Home

Phoenix’s NBC News affiliate reports: Coronavirus cases in Arizona continue to skyrocket, and the state set another new record for daily cases on Wednesday with 4,878 new cases reported. The state also reported a new high of 88 deaths on Wednesday. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), the state has reported a total of 84,092 cases and …

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Trump Admin Buys Entire World Stock Of COVID Drug

The Guardian reports: The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world. Experts and campaigners are alarmed both by the US unilateral action on remdesivir and the wider implications, for …

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DeSantis: Florida Is “Not Going Back” On Reopening

The Florida Phoenix reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated Tuesday that he’s not turning back his plans to reopen the state’s economy as the daily number of positive test results from COVID-19 edged up again above 6,000. “We’re not going back, closing things,” the governor said. The state reported 6,093 infections coming in overnight, pushing the total to 152,434 and the …

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St. Patrick’s Cathedral Resumes Holding Mass [VIDEO]

New York City’s Pix11 reports: St. Patrick’s Cathedral held indoor Mass on Sunday for the first time in three months, with precautions against the coronavirus in place. Cardinal Timothy Dolan led the 10:15 a.m. Mass. Capacity was limited to 25% and people had to follow federal health guidelines that include wearing face coverings and staying at least 6 feet apart. …

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Fauci: Discussions Underway On COVID “Pool Testing”

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration is weighing a new testing strategy as coronavirus cases mount: testing groups of people together. Anthony Fauci said  that health officials are having “intense discussions” about what’s known as “pool testing.” The idea is that by testing samples from many people all together, officials could test more people with fewer resources. And those …

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One Million Dead People Got COVID Stimulus Checks

The Washington Post reports: The federal government sent coronavirus stimulus payments to almost 1.1 million dead people totaling nearly $1.4 billion, Congress’ independent watchdog reported Thursday. The Washington Post previously reported that the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service disbursed some payments of up to $1,200 each to dead people. But the astonishing scope of the problem had not been …

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DOJ Backs Challenge To Hawaii’s Quarantine On Visitors

The Associated Press reports: A quarantine imposed on travelers arriving to Hawaii discriminates against out-of-state residents, the U.S. Department of Justice said in support of a lawsuit challenging the mandate meant to protect the islands against the spread of the coronavirus. “This case raises issues of national public importance regarding the interplay between the government’s compelling interest in protecting the …

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Trump To Defy Quarantine For Visitors To New Jersey

CNBC reports: The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump will not change his plan to travel to New Jersey this weekend despite a new order by the governor requiring visitors who have been in states with high numbers of coronavirus cases to quarantine for 14 days. “The president of the United States is not a civilian,” said White …

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New COVID Cases Break National Single-Day Record

The Washington Post reports: Across the United States, more than 36,000 new infections were reported by state health departments on Wednesday — surpassing the previous single-day record of 34,203 set on April 25. Texas, Florida and California led the way, with all three states reporting more than 5,000 new cases apiece. Even as case numbers climb, reports circulated that the …

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Arizona Hospitals Near Crisis, 88% Of ICU Beds Filled

Arizona Central reports: The state reached a new high for hospitalizations Tuesday, according to the update provided by the Arizona Department of Health Services Wednesday morning. Inpatient beds and ventilators in use for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients both hit their highest-ever numbers Tuesday, according to the report. Emergency department visits and ICU beds in use hovered around their highest …

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