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Friday, January 22, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Biden Warns COVID Will Take Months to Turn Around


BIDEN SIGNS CORONAVIRUS-RELATED EXECUTIVE ORDERS: President Biden signed 10 executive orders related to the coronavirus pandemic during his first full day in office Thursday, moving immediately to start his national strategy to increase vaccinations and testing, increase the use of face masks, and more. At the same time, he warned that things won't be fixed right away, saying, "We didn’t get into this mess overnight, and it will take months to turn this around." But he also had a message for pandemic-weary Americans, saying, "To a nation waiting for action, let me be clear on this point: Help is on the way." The federal government is taking on full responsibility for the coronavirus response, in a change from the Trump administration, offering to help states with technical assistance and money, instead of delegating major responsibilities to them.
 

Biden yesterday issued an order requiring face masks for people traveling on planes, ships, intercity buses, trains and public transportation, after having already mandated them on federal property. Overseas travelers must show a negative Covid-19 test before leaving for the U.S., and must quarantine once arriving. He's also directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin setting up vaccination centers, with the goal of having 100 operating in a month, and ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to begin a program to make vaccines available through local pharmacies starting next month, building on a plan from the Trump administration. 


Vaccine Shortages Blamed on Expansion

Many states and cities around the country have been complaining about shortages of their vaccine supplies. Public health experts yesterday blamed the problem in part on the Trump administration's push that began over a week ago to get states to expand eligibility to everyone age 65 and older, according to AP. But that push from the federal government didn't come with an increase in doses to meet the expanded demand. 




Mutations

In the race to get all Americans vaccinated, there is now also an issue with mutations, including a particularly worrisome one from South Africa that could make the vaccines less effective. Speaking to reporters at the White House yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialists, said, "we are paying very close attention to it." 


➤NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS BEGINNING TO HEAD HOME AFTER INAUGURATION: Now that President Biden's inauguration is over, the nearly 26,000 National Guard troops that were brought into Washington, D.C., to secure the nation's capital in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol are beginning to go home. The National Guard Bureau said Thursday, that just 10,600 of the National Guard troops remain on duty, and that it's helping states with coordination and logistics so that the Guardsmen can get home. Some 7,000 troops are expected to stay in the region through the end of the month.


➤MCCONNELL PROPOSES PUSHING TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL TO FEBRUARY: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is proposing push back the start of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial to mid-February, in order to give him to time to prepare. House Democrats have signaled they want to move quickly, saying it's necessary before the country can move on. However, some Senate Democrats could favor a delay, according to AP, as it would give the Senate more time to confirm President Biden's Cabinet nominees and debate his new $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will ultimately decide when to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which would start the trial process, but hasn't yet said when she'll do it. Some Republicans are arguing, however, that Trump can't be tried once he's no longer in office.

➤YOUR MEGA MILLIONS CHANCES ARE SLIM: One in 302,575,350. Those are the odds of winning the $970 million prize that is up for grabs in Friday's Mega Millions drawing. During months of buildup and the longest stretch in the game's history without a jackpot winner, millions in smaller prizes were won as the jackpot crept up. Now it's the third-largest prize in U.S. lottery history, if claimed at its amount now.

➤COUPLES STRUGGLE WITH SLEEP PROBLEMS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: The pandemic has lead to many couples spending a lot more time together than they did previously. This has lead to many couples breaking up, or fighting, the latter of which can actually cause sleeping issues during the night. Wendy Troxel is a senior behavioral and social scientist at the nonprofit RAND Corporation, and says, “When you share a bed with another human being, your sleep is affected and it affects the other person who shares the bed with you.” Add that on top of being together all the time, and it can make relaxing enough to go to sleep even more difficult. And even if you’re not feeling that way, the experts say that without the regimented schedule of a commute to and from the office, or dropping the kids off at school, people are fully embracing their natural circadian rhythms. So if one member of a couple is more of a night owl they may be staying up later than they did pre-pandemic, which can then mean the sleep of their early-bird partner is disturbed when they come to bed. The good news? Experts say there will be some couples that “learn to work through their sleep issues because they don’t have a choice and might actually come out closer.”

➤LAWMAKERS BLAME F-B ALGORITHMS FOR SPREAKING CONSPIRACY THEORIES: In the wake of the the assault on the U.S. Capitol two weeks ago, two lawmakers are pointing a finger of blame at Facebook, specifically at its algorithms that they say spread, quote, "dangerous conspiracy theories." Democratic Reps. Anna G. Eshoo and Tom Malinowski wrote a scathing letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, charging, "Perhaps no single entity is more responsible for the spread of dangerous conspiracy theories at scale or for inflaming anti-government grievance than the one that you started and that you oversee today . . . " The two specifically blame the algorithms Facebook employs to maximize user engagement, charging they, quote, "undermine our shared sense of objective reality, intensify fringe political beliefs, facilitate connections between extremist users, and, tragically, lead some of them to commit real-world physical violence, such as what we experienced firsthand on January 6th." Eshoo and Malinowski also wrote separate letters to Twitter and Google making similar accusations, but had particular ire for Facebook. They point to a New York Times report on a test Facebook carried out in 2020 to demote posts deemed, quote, "bad for the world," that said the campaign was watered down when Facebook realized it led to people spending less time on the site. They say that Facebook needs to do a, quote, "fundamental reexamination" of making maximizing time spent on Facebook as the basis for its algorithms' sorting and recommendations.


🏀THREE GRIZZLIES GAMES POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19 ISSUES: The NBA postponed three upcoming Memphis Grizzlies games due to coronavirus issues, with the team short of enough players until the middle of next week, due in part to coronavirus contact tracing. Tonight's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, and games Sunday and Monday against the Sacramento Kings, were called off. The Grizzlies' game against Portland this past Wednesday had also been postponed. There have now been 20 NBA games postponed since the season began.

🏈EAGLES HIRING SIRIANNI AS HEAD COACH: The Philadelphia Eagles are hiring Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni as their new head coach, ESPN reported yesterday, citing Eagles executive vice president Howie Roseman. The 39-year-old Sirianni has also worked as a quarterbacks coach and receivers coach. Philadelphia fired head coach Doug Pederson earlier this month.

🏀CAVALIERS TRADING PORTER TO ROCKETS: The Cleveland Cavaliers are trading Kevin Porter Jr. to the Houston Rockets in exchange for a future protected second-round pick, according to media reports yesterday. The trade comes days after Porter reportedly had an outburst over his locker being moved, requiring Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman to intervene. It also comes two months after he was involved in a car accident in which he was charged with improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, failure to control the vehicle, and possession of marijuana. He hasn't played this season due to personal issues.

➤IOC, ORGANIZERS PUSH BACK ON TOKYO OLYMPICS CANCELLATION REPORTS: The Tokyo Olympics that were supposed to be played last summer were postponed to this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and local organizers are pushing back against a Times of London report that said the Tokyo Olympics will be canceled amid the ongoing pandemic. The Games are slated to begin on January 23rd. However, Senior International Olympic Committee member Richard Pound said earlier in the week that the Olympics may be held largely without fans.

🏈NOTRE DAME'S FOOTBALL PROGRAM PUT ON PROBATION: Notre Dame's football program was put on probation for one year by the NCAA yesterday over a former assistant coach having a not-allowed off-campus recruiting contact with a high school player in January 2019. ESPN cited sources as saying the coach involved was cornerbacks coach Todd Lyght and the player was linebacker Sav'ell Smalls. Lyght was fired in January 2020. Notre Dame was also fined $5,000 and will have other recruiting restrictions.
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