Government

Vaccine mandates: Quebec's 'unvaxxed tax' leads to spike in first-dose appointments

Thu, 2022-01-13 13:12 — mike kraft

Canada says vaccine mandates work as Quebec's 'unvaxxed tax' leads to spike in first-dose appointments

(CNN) One day after the Canadian province of Quebec announced it would financially penalize residents who are unvaccinated, the province's health minister said Wednesday first-time appointments spiked in the hours following the announcement.

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Biden says administration will make free high-quality face masks available to all Americans, announces deployment of additional medical teams

Thu, 2022-01-13 12:20 — mike kraft

Biden says his administration will make free high-quality face masks available to all Americans President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his administration would make "high-quality masks" available to Americans for free, as the US struggles to contain the new surge of the Omicron variant and hospitalizations from Covid-19 reach new highs. Kate Sullivan, Kaitlan Collins, Betsy Klein, Jeremy Diamond and Paul LeBlanc, CNN CNN

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Americans are tuning out as omicron rages. Experts call for health messaging to adapt

Thu, 2022-01-13 12:04 — mike kraft

Access Health CEO Jeff Fortenbacher's nonprofit tries to provide better health care by offering l0wer-cost health insurance and offering counseling and care to low-income and minority patients around Muskegon, Mich., where the rate of full vaccination in that population is at a mere 14%.

He says the challenges of reaching these communities has gotten even harder lately. "It just cuts across that whole issue of trust and suspicion and not getting the information," he says. After two years of recommendations on masking, isolation, travel and vaccines, many are just checked out. "I mean, it's almost like white noise."

Even as the omicron variant of the coronavirus wreaks havoc on hospitals and COVID-19 kills over 1,500 Americans every day, public health leaders are struggling to get people to tune in to guidance that could help stem the contagion.

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Poorer nations reject over 100 million COVID shots because many close to expiry

Thu, 2022-01-13 11:47 — mike kraft

Poorer nations reject over 100 million COVID shots as many close to expiry Poorer nations last month rejected more than 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed by the global programme COVAX, mainly due to their rapid expiry date, a UNICEF official said on Thursday. Francesco Guarascio Reuters

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Africa

Democratic Republic of the Congo

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FDA warns against using unapproved COVID-19 tests because of a 'high risk of false results'

Thu, 2022-01-13 10:26 — mike kraft

FDA warns against using unapproved COVID-19 tests because of a 'high risk of false results' The FDA is warning about the spread of fake at-home COVID tests producing false results. Here's how to make sure the test you received is legitimate. Yahoo

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Biden announcing more federal medical team deployments to hospitals.

Thu, 2022-01-13 09:12 — mike kraft

In morning speech, Biden will announce new federal medical team deployments to help hospitals combat Covid-19 President Biden is expected to deliver remarks this morning announcing a new wave of federally deployed medical teams to six states to help hospitals combat Covid-19, a White House official told CNN. The President is set to speak at 10:30 a.m. ET. By <a href="/profiles/rhea-mogul">Rhea Mogul</a>, Adam Renton and Jack Guy, CNN CNN

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Covid leading cause of death for American police during 2021

Wed, 2022-01-12 18:59 — mike kraft

Covid leading cause of death for police, driving dramatic rise in line of duty deaths The number of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty across the U.S. last year totaled 458, a 55 percent increase from 2020, the National Law Enf YahooNews

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US debate over mask mandates resumes as COVID-19 cases increase

Wed, 2022-01-12 17:30 — mike kraft

Soaring COVID-19 cases renew US debate over mask mandates | AP News Officials across the U.S. are again weighing how and whether to impose mask mandates as COVID-19 infections soar and the American public grows ever wearier of pandemic-related restrictions. AP NEWS

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Why Coronavirus Testing Is Falling Short in Many U.S. Schools -NYT

Wed, 2022-01-12 14:51 — mike kraft

In California, storms over the winter break destroyed a million coronavirus test kits that were meant to help schools screen returning students. In Seattle schools, children waited for hours for virus testing, some in a driving rain. In Florida this month, an attempt to supply tests to teachers in Broward County turned up expired kits.

And in Chicago, a labor dispute, partly over testing, kept students out of school for a week.

As millions of American students head back to their desks — Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest school district, started classes on Tuesday — the coronavirus testing that was supposed to help keep classrooms open safely is itself being tested. In much of the country, things are not going well.

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Florida: FDA extends shelf life of nearly 1 million expired COVID-19 test kits in the state

Wed, 2022-01-12 13:15 — mike kraft

FDA extends shelf life of nearly 1 million expired COVID-19 test kits in Florida, governor says

COVID-19 testing centers throughout Florida — which have been dealing with crushing demand over the last few weeks — may have just caught a big break.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that up to 1 million coronavirus rapid test kits which had expired in December can actually be used.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the expiration date for three months on a warehouse full of between 800,000 and 1 million Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW COVID-19 test kits, pushing their shelf life to March.

The tests, which had expired between Dec. 26 and 30, will now be sent to emergency management offices, county health departments, public safety agencies, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.

DeSantis added the rapid COVID-19 test kits are not at-home tests and cannot be sent to Floridians directly. Only trained medical professionals can administer them at testing sites.

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