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Monday, July 12, 2021

Wake-Up Call: U-S Health Officials To Meet About Booster

Pfizer is set to meet today with top U.S. health officials to discuss its request for federal authorization for a third dose booster of its Covid-19 vaccine, The Washington Post first reported Sunday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that they don't think booster shots are needed right now, after Pfizer had said boosters would be needed within 12 months. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, said yesterday that it's too soon for the government to recommend a booster, but, quote, "it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely" that booster shots will eventually be needed.

➤CDC, FDA: AMERICANS ‘DO NOT NEED’ COVID-19 BOOSTER SHOT:    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both said late last week that fully vaccinated Americans “do not need” an extra booster shot of the vaccine at this time. The health agencies said the U.S. “is fortunate to have highly effective vaccines that are widely available” to eligible populations. The statement also said, “People who are fully vaccinated are protected from severe disease and death, including from the variants currently circulating in the country such as Delta. People who are not vaccinated remain at risk. Virtually all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are among those who are unvaccinated.”

➤CONFIRMED DEATHS IN SURFSIDE CONDO COLLAPSE NOW AT 90, RECOVERY WORK MAY BE DONE IN TWO WEEKS: The confirmed death toll in the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse rose to 90 Sunday with the discovery of four new victims. There are still some 31 people listed as missing. Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said yesterday that the recovery work at the site where the 12-story Champlain Towers South once stood could be over in as early as two weeks, saying, "We were looking at a 14-day to 21-day timeframe," while adding, however, that it's a "sliding scale." Meanwhile, an Israeli search and rescue team that arrived soon after the building collapsed on June 24th left Sunday to return home. Members of the crews that have been working at the site lined both sides of the street to say goodbye to the Israeli team.

➤PROTESTS IN CUBA OVER FOOD SHORTAGES, HIGH PRICES: Thousands of protesters demonstrated in the Cuban capital of Havana and in other parts of the country Sunday in one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Cuba in decades, protesting food shortages and high prices amid the pandemic. Police initially walked behind the demonstrators, but broke up the Havana protest after a couple of hours when a few marchers threw rocks. Cuba shut down internet service during the afternoon, blocking marchers' attempts to broadcast the protest live from their cellphones. 


U.S. official Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary for state for Western Hemisphere affairs, tweeted support for the demonstrators, saying, "Peaceful protests are growing in #Cuba as the Cuban people exercise their right to peaceful assembly to express concern about rising COVID cases/deaths & medicine shortages." Cuba’s director general for U.S. affairs, Carlos F. de Cossio, responded in his own tweet, "US State Department and its officials, involved to their necks in promoting social and political instability in #Cuba, should avoid expressing hypocritical concern for a situation they have been betting on."

 
➤HAITIAN MAN WHO'D BEEN LIVING IN FLORIDA ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH ASSASSINATION: Haiti's national Police Chief Leon Charles announced the arrest yesterday of a Haitian man who appears to have been living in Florida in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last week, with him accused of flying into Haiti on a private plane last month and working with the masterminds and of the assassination and the people who allegedly carried it out. Charles identified the suspect as Christian Emmanuel Sanon, and said the alleged assassins were protecting him as the supposed president of Haiti. He alleges that Sanon was in contact with a firm that provides security for politicians and recruited the suspects. The original mission of the men was to protect Sanon, but they later were given a new one to arrest Moise. Charles said that after Moise was killed, one of the suspects called Sanon, who got in touch with two people believed to be the plot's masterminds. He didn't identify them or say if police know who they are. AP reports that Sanon identifies himself as a doctor in a YouTube video called, Leadership for Haiti, and has lived in Broward and Hillsborough Counties in Florida as well as in Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Fox News Sunday that a team of agents from the Homeland Security Department and the FBI were heading to Haiti to help with the investigation, and that they were still analyzing the request from Haiti to send troops.


➤BERTINELLI SAYS SHE HAS HELPED PERPETUATE THE DIET CULTURE:  Actress Valerie Bertinelli is criticizing herself for perpetuating "diet culture" when she was a spokesperson for Jenny Craig. It began last week when the 61-year-old posted an Instagram video with a tearful response after an online commenter told her she needs to lose weight. She asked, "where's the compassion," and spoke about her own exhaustion at battling her weight, saying, "you think I'm not tired of it, lady?" She also slammed the constant criticism of women's bodies, saying, "Aren’t we tired of body shaming women yet?!" While she got a lot of support in response, there was also some criticism, including one Twitter user who wrote, "you spent decades telling the rest of us to get thin, shilled weight loss shakes, potions & snake oil & NOW [you] wanna be a body-shaming warrior? You don’t get to be a victim when you helped create the problem." Bertinelli responded that she doesn't see herself as a victim, and owned some of the criticism, saying, "Yes, I spent 6 years 'shilling' for Jenny Craig. (your math’s a little off) I have been buying into the diet industry my whole life and then I became part of the problem, so here I am today receiving the karma of my actions." She added though, "You can go ahead and judge all you like. However, I can warn you, from experience, that kind of karma doesn’t feel great either."

➤IS IT BETTER TO SLEEP IN OR EXERCISE WHEN YOU’RE TIRED? HERE’S WHAT NEW RESEARCH SAYS: Getting enough sleep is really important. Researchers from the UK Biobank group found that higher levels of physical activity might be able to counteract the negative health impact of poor sleep. Study authors note that exercise and high-quality sleep definitely have very good effects on health, but note that, “Poor sleep was associated with a high risk [of] all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and these risks were markedly exacerbated among participants with insufficient [exercise].” EatingWell’s assistant nutrition digital editor, Jessica Ball, (who was not involved with the research) adds, “As with anything, choosing whether to wake up and exercise or sleep-in varies based on every individual situation—there is no right or wrong answer. That said, if you are consistently sacrificing sleep for morning workouts, it could be worth trying to restructure your routine to workout at another point in the day. Exercise won’t be as beneficial for your body if you have racked up significant ‘sleep debt.’”

➤BRANSON FLIES TO SPACE IN ROCKET SHIP: Billionaire Richard Branson flew to space yesterday in his company Virgin Galactic's winged rocket ship Unity, along with five crewmates from the space tourism company. They reached an altitude of 53.5 miles over the New Mexico desert, experiencing three to four minutes of weightlessness, before returning home in a runway landing after the brief flight. There was a global livestream of Branson's flight. Afterward, he said, "The whole thing, it was just magical." Fellow billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be following him up nine days later in his own company's space craft, and sent his congratulations, saying, "Can’t wait to join the club!"

➤POPE MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE SINCE SURGERY: Pope Francis made his first public appearance yesterday since having major intestinal surgery last week, greeting well-wishers for about 10 minutes from the balcony of this Rome hospital suite. The 84-year-old pontiff offered thanks for the prayers for his recovery, saying, "I felt your closeness and the support of your prayers." He also praised health care workers, and spoke about current events as he usually does in his Sunday messages. The Vatican hasn't yet said when Francis will be discharged from the hospital.

➤NYC'S COMEDY CELLAR WON'T BE WELCOMING COSBY BACK: Bill Cosby apparently wants to get back into doing his comedy on the road now that he's been released from prison with his sexual assault conviction overturned, but one place he won't be doing it is at New York City's iconic Comedy Cellar. The club's owner told TMZ they're not interested in him performing there, or even coming in the door. TMZ notes the Comedy Cellar has had controversial acts, including Louis CK and Aziz Ansari after their sexual misconduct scandals.

➤SURVEY..CASH HELPS PEOPLE BUDGET BETTER:  The supposed death of cash may be exaggerated. A new survey of 1,500 Americans found that a majority believe using cash helps them budget their money, and that there are things they prefer to buy with cash. In the OnePoll survey for Cash Connect, 51 percent said using cash helps them budget, with members of Gen Z being most likely to agree, and, at 52 percent, the mostly like to prefer cash to other payment methods. Looking at what Americans prefer to pay cash for, fast food topped the list at 44 percent, followed by candy and snacks at 37 percent, coffee at 32 percent, and gas at 27 percent. However, when something is over $31, people would prefer to use another payment method. Additionally, 36 percent withdraw cash specifically for tipping, even if they don't play to pay the bill in cash. The survey found Americans keep an average of $52 in cash on them, and three-quarters keep an emergency "cash stash" at home of an average of $89.

➤REPORT..THERE’S AN ‘EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS’ FOR PEOPLE UNDER AGE 35 THAT WAS WORSENED BY THE PANDEMC:  It’s possible that people under age 35 are feeling very lonely these days. Will Tanner, the Onward director in the U.K. says, “Young people are suffering an epidemic of loneliness that, if left unattended, will erode the glue that holds our society together. After decades of community decline and fifteen months of rolling lockdowns, young people have fewer friends, trust people less and are more alienated from their communities than ever before.” They say the percentage of people under age 35 who say they have one or no close friends has tripled from seven percent to 21 percent over the past decade. Just 40 percent said they had close friends in 2021, down from 64 percent who said the same in 2011-2012. Researchers are urging the government to create a national civic service to encourage 18-to-35-year-olds to do voluntary work, with the reward of partial student loan forgiveness for doing ten days a year.


🏀BUCKS BEAT SUNS 120-100, CUT PHOENIX'S NBA FINALS LEAD TO 2-1: The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 120-100 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night in Milwaukee, cutting the Suns' lead to 2 games to 1. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 41 points, after having scored 42 points in Game 2. His performance is coming after he missed the last two games of the Eastern Conference Finals with a hyperextended knee, and it wasn't even known if he'd be able to play in the championship series. Game 4 is Wednesday night in Milwaukee.

 

🎾DJOKOVIC WINS WIMBLEDON FOR 20TH GRAND SLAM, BARTY IS WOMEN'S CHAMP: Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon Sunday for his record-tying 20th Grand Slam title, the top-seeded Serbian defeating Number 7 Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 after dropping the first set. Djokovic is now tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 Grand Slam victories, both of whom tweeted their congratulations. Ash Barty of Australia won the women's title on Saturday, the top-seed defeating Number 8 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 for her second Grand Slam title after she won the French Open in 2019.

⚽ITALY WINS EURO 2020 OVER ENGLAND IN PENALTY KICK SHOOTOUT: Italy won soccer's European Championship Sunday (July 11th), defeating England in a penalty kick shootout 3-2 after the match finished at 1-1 after extra time. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved three penalty kicks by England, including the winning one by Bukayo Saka, and was named the Player of the Tournament, the first goalkeeper to receive the honor. England, which was on home turf with the game played at London's Wembley Stadium, was hoping to win its first international trophy since the 1966 World Cup. But it was a redemption for Italy, which less than four years ago failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades.
 
After the game, the three Black players who missed penalty kicks for England, including Saka, were targeted by racist abuse online. The English Football Association issued a statement condemning it, and London's Metropolitan Police said it was investigating, quote, "offensive and racist" messages on social media.

⚾PIRATES TAKE DAVIS WITH TOP PICK IN MLB DRAFT: The Pittsburgh Pirates took Louisville catcher Henry Davis with the top pick in the MLB Draft last night, the first held as part of All-Star weekend. The Texas Rangers took Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter with the Number 2 pick, son of former MLB All-Star pitcher Al Leiter. The Detroit Tigers picked third, choosing Oklahoma high school pitcher Jackson Jobe. Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the picks from Denver’s Bellco Theater, with fans allowed to watch the event in person for the first time.

🏀MOSLEY REACHES DEAL AS MAGIC'S NEW HEAD COACH: Dallas Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley has reached a four-year deal to be the Orlando Magic's new head coach, according to reports yesterday. This will be the first head coaching job for the 42-year-old Mosley. He's taking over from Steve Clifford, who mutually parted ways with the Magic last month.
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