And another day of living in a country where 30% of the population’s ignorance, recklessness, and willful, almost gleeful desire to endanger the lives of others comes to a close. There’s a lot today, my friends. From politics to asteroids. Stay safe, and protect others.
"To many medical providers working today, the rejection of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines feels like a giant ‘Fuck you’ from 29 percent of American adults.” — Dr. Chavi Eve Karkowski
Deaths
US: 635,636 (+974)
World: 4,337,588 (+10,793)
Cases
US: 37,055,916 (+163,701)
World: 205,512,912 (+738,579)
Doctors Are Fuming About This Optional Surge. After the horrors that health-care workers have endured during the pandemic, many are struggling to sympathize with people who refuse to protect themselves. “What makes me the maddest,” one of my doctor friends told me, “is that these people will reject science right until the second they need everything I have to keep them alive, and then they feel that they can come to our door and be entitled to that help and that hard work.” This friend is characterizing the inconsistency in the behavior she sees in people declining a vaccine but then demanding medical care based on the same science. That inconsistency feels, to her and to other dedicated medical professionals trying to survive this pandemic, very much like dishonesty.
One month later: These maps show how quickly Covid engulfed the US again. More than 98% of US residents now live in an area where there is a "high" or "substantial" risk of Covid-19 community transmission, up from 19% of residents only a month ago. This sharp turn has been driven in large part by the highly infectious Delta variant and low vaccination rates in many regions.
As vaccine mandates spread, protests follow — some spurred by nurses. A new round of protests like last year’s has sprung up in recent days, fueled in part by nurses who have also been finding audiences on social media.
FDA poised to authorize 3rd vaccine dose for immune-compromised people.
Rand Paul disclosure shows his wife bought stock in COVID-19 treatment in late filing. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) disclosed on Wednesday that his wife purchased stock in Gilead Sciences, a company that manufactures a COVID-19 treatment, in February 2020, when information regarding the coronavirus was just beginning to come to light. -- And now we know why he fights reasonable precautions regarding Covid. He wants people to get sick because his wife makes more money. What an asshole.
Federal government sends ventilators to Florida as DeSantis says he's unaware of shipment. The Biden administration sent hundreds of ventilators to Florida in recent days as the state responds to a dramatic new increase in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, an official from the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to CNN. But Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis claims he's unaware of the shipment.
States requesting federal help to combat latest surge in COVID-19 patients. Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana are among those reporting staffing and hospital capacity concerns as the number of COVID-19 patients rise…Mississippi officials have requested the use of the military hospital ship USNS Comfort to help "provide potential [intensive care unit] capacity or a step-down unit for COVID-19 patients in the event COVID-19 hospitalization rise," according to the document.
Mississippi opening field hospital amid surge of COVID cases. Mississippi will open a 50-bed field hospital and the federal government will send medical professionals to help treat patients as COVID-19 cases continue surging in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S., officials said Wednesday.
Rising Covid-19 case numbers in classrooms cause school districts to go virtual, change mask rules. Some schools in Mississippi, Indiana, and Georgia have already been forced to return to virtual. Some are hoping to return to in-person learning when case numbers drop. This week alone, two Atlanta-area elementary schools sent some or all students home for virtual learning. -- This is all at the feet of those who are capable of getting vaccinated but choose not to. They are to blame for all of it.
Education secretary says he would support vaccine mandate for teachers. It comes as the U.S. experiences a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, due in large part to the highly contagious Delta variant, and as hospitals sounds the alarm about an increasing number of kids landing in the hospital after contracting the virus.
California requires vaccines, tests for teachers and staff. California will become the first state in the nation to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, as schools return from summer break amid growing concerns about the highly contagious delta variant, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.
Defiance of Texas mask mandate ban continues. Defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates continued on Wednesday as another Texas school district announced plans to require students to wear face coverings and another county scored a legal victory in its efforts to issue such mandates amid a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state.
Arkansas health care workers overwhelmed by Covid resurgence. A new wave of cases has exhausted doctors and nurses who say the outbreak could have been avoided if more people had been vaccinated.
'We will find you': Tennessee parents protest school mask mandate; people in masks heckled. Angry protests erupted in Franklin, Tennessee, after a school district reinstated a mask mandate for elementary school students, with some people yelling at and heckling those wearing masks in the parking lot at a meeting about the measure. -- The video is disgusting.
CDC urges COVID vaccines during pregnancy as delta surges. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all pregnant women Wednesday to get the COVID-19 vaccine as hospitals in hot spots around the U.S. see disturbing numbers of unvaccinated mothers-to-be seriously ill with the virus.
You might have heard that the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox. Not so. But it's likely one of the most contagious respiratory virus known. — And what will the next mutation be like?
U.S. health care system ranks last among 11 wealthy countries, report finds. Despite spending more on health care than any other country in the world, the U.S. health care system lags far behind many other high-income nations recently analyzed. — Because the US system is designed to make a small number of people wealthy rather than provide adequate healthcare to its entire population. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege.
Rand Paul suspended one week by YouTube over COVID-19 mask claims. The Kentucky Republican said he felt “this kind of censorship is very dangerous, incredibly anti-free speech, and truly anti-progress of science, which involves skepticism and argumentation to arrive at the truth.”
Senate approves $3.5T budget plan that would expand health care, education and climate initiatives. The Senate passed a sweeping Democratic budget resolution along party lines early Wednesday that would make it possible to expand Medicare, education and environmental measures largely through higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
TX GOP House members caught on video admitting their election bill is a partisan power grab.
Texas Republicans OK arrest of Democrats who blocked voting bill. The measure, which came on Tuesday night after Republican state lawmakers in Texas voted earlier in the evening to allow the arrests, permits authorities to detain and bring the legislators to the state capitol upon their return to Texas.
Wyoming GOP leaders say they no longer recognize Cheney as party member. The GOP groups of two Wyoming counties have both voted to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as a member of the Republican Party, the latest moves against the congresswoman months after she voted to impeach former President Trump.
Wages Are Going Up — And So Is Inflation. Consumer Prices Have Hit A 13-Year High. A lot of workers are getting wage hikes this year as employers compete for scarce labor. But it's not all good news for workers, or for the economy: Some businesses are raising prices to offset the wage hikes, contributing to surging inflation and eroding some of the benefits from that higher pay.
Panic grips Afghanistan as civilians flee Taliban's relentless advance. A running analysis by the Long War Journal, which was updated Tuesday, showed that 233 districts were under Taliban control, 65 under government control and 109 contested.
How is the Taliban gaining so fast in Afghanistan? Over the past few days, Taliban fighters have reportedly taken over nine provincial capitals. The siege comes after a relentless, monthslong offensive in the country that has stretched Afghan government forces. Since the US began withdrawing its troops from the country at the start of May, the Taliban has swept through about half of Afghanistan’s 400 districts. It is an unsettling situation as the US ends its 20-year war in Afghanistan. So much is still uncertain about the country’s future, except that the fighting and humanitarian catastrophe will continue.
US keeping distance as Afghan forces face Taliban rout. Afghan government forces are collapsing even faster than U.S. military leaders thought possible just a few months ago when President Joe Biden ordered a full withdrawal. But there’s little appetite at the White House, the Pentagon or among the American public for trying to stop the rout and it probably is too late to do so.
Indonesian army ends "virginity tests" on female cadets. — Yes, you read that correctly.
LGBT Americans reported higher rates of food and economic insecurity than non-LGBT people, Census Bureau's pandemic survey finds.
Huge California fire grows; Montana blaze threatens towns. California’s largest single wildfire in recorded history continued to grow Wednesday after destroying more than 1,000 buildings, nearly half of them homes, while authorities in Montana ordered evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote communities.
Wildland firefighters faced with shrinking water, food, communications supplies. Two memos issued this week by the National Interagency Fire Center paint a grim picture for an already overburdened wildland firefighting force.
2 coaches charged with murder in death of basketball player who collapsed during practice. Imani Bell, 16, died after the coaches at Elite Scholars Academy in Jonesboro, Georgia, held a practice for members of the girls' basketball team in extreme heat. -- Heat is deadly motherfuckers. And the heat is only getting worse. Stop practicing in extreme heat.
Heat wave hits Northwest, sending people to cooling centers. People headed to cooling centers Wednesday as the Pacific Northwest began sweltering under another major, multiday heat wave just over a month after record-shattering hot weather killed hundreds of the region’s most vulnerable people.
A drought in eastern Washington state that is the worst since 1977 has devastated what is normally the fourth largest U.S. wheat crop.
Perseid meteor showers are set to be a showstopper celestial event. The meteor shower will peak from midnight on August 11 to dawn on August 13 but actually runs from July 23 to August 22, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac. Because the crescent moon will be setting early, the sky will be especially dark -- which makes for an optimal viewing opportunity, according to NASA.
Adding to 2021 news, a potentially dangerous asteroid called Bennu has a 1 in 1,750 chance of hitting Earth between now and the year 2300.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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