Midland Reporter-Telegram – During a press conference to put a spotlight on getting more people vaccinated, Midland, Texas Mayor Patrick Payton said he is currently going through the vaccination process, having received the first of two shots.
“I have had a vaccine hesitancy myself, because I've been sick and tired of hearing data on one side and data on the other side,” Payton said Wednesday.
He called Midland Health officials the reasonable voice in the community...
KAISER HEALTH NEWS – For Stephanie Force, finding a birth control method that she likes and can get without paying out-of-pocket has been a struggle, despite the Affordable Care Act’s promise of free contraceptives for women and adolescent girls in most health plans.
The 27-year-old physician recruiter in Roanoke, Virginia, was perfectly happy with the NuvaRing, a flexible vaginal ring that women insert monthly to release hormones to prevent pregnancy.
But her insurer, Anthem, stopped covering...
STAT NEWS – More than 200 people in 27 states are being monitored for possible exposure to monkeypox after they had contact with an individual who contracted the disease in Nigeria before traveling to the United States this month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To date, no additional cases have been detected.
State and local health authorities are working with the CDC to identify and assess the individuals, and follow up with...
TEXAS TRIBUNE – Of the 8,787 people who have died in Texas due to COVID-19 since early February, at least 43 were fully vaccinated, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.
That means 99.5% of people who died due to COVID-19 in Texas from Feb. 8 to July 14 were unvaccinated, while 0.5% were the result of “breakthrough infections,” which DSHS defines as people who contracted the virus two weeks after being fully vaccinated.
The...
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla (WFLA) — A man found a surprise guest in his pool after returning from the doctor’s office, prompting him to call law enforcement.
When deputies arrived, the trespasser, Heather A. Kennedy, told them to leave her alone.
Deputies convinced her to leave the pool and put her clothes back on, but when they tried to detain her, she resisted.
They managed to subdue and book Kennedy into the Charlotte County Jail.
She now faces charges for...
L.A. TIMES – Seriously, to weigh how the first woman and first woman of color to become vice president is perceived, Kamala Harris’ laugh may provide the ultimate gauge.
While many people just hear levity in her laugh, those on the right react with heckles and attacks, a difference that says as much about the divisive, personally vicious state of politics as any debates over policies.
President Trump made fun of “the laugh” at a late...
AL.COM – Dr. Brytney Cobia said Monday that all but one of her COVID patients in Alabama did not receive the vaccine.
The vaccinated patient, she said, just needed a little oxygen and is expected to fully recover. Some of the others are dying.
Cobia, a hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, wrote in an emotional Facebook post Sunday:
“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections. One of the...
Consumer Health: Understanding glioblastoma
MAYO CLINIC NEWS NETWORK – Glioblastoma Awareness Day will be observed on Wednesday, July 21, which makes this a good time to learn more about one of the most complex, deadly and treatment-resistant cancers.
Glioblastoma, a type of glioma, is an aggressive cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord. It can occur at any age, but it tends to occur more often in older adults.
Approximately 13,000 people in the...
The F.D.A. is encouraging people to get a Covid-19 shot — but hasn’t formally approved those vaccines.
New York Times – It is the most discordant part of the U.S. government’s response to Covid-19.
Even as President Biden, the C.D.C. and virtually the entire scientific community are urging — pleading with, even — Americans to get vaccinated, the government has not formally approved any vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration has instead given only “emergency use authorization”...
TOKYO (AP) — Over and over, year after year, the stewards of the Olympics say it: The Games aren't supposed to be political. But how do you avoid politics when you're trying to pull off an event of this complexity during a lethal and protracted pandemic?
Consider:
The Japanese medical community largely opposes these Olympics; the government’s main medical adviser, Dr. Shigeru Omi, has said it’s “abnormal” to hold them during a pandemic.
Medical journals...
Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly across Indonesia. The fourth most populous country in the world is currently Asia's hotspot for the disease, and many of the newest cases are confirmed to be the deadly Delta variant.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, public health officials said Wednesday.
The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years.
The drop spelled out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which health officials said is responsible for close to 74% of the overall life...
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | OPINION – You read the same alarming headlines every few months, now with Greek letters.
As the virus that causes Covid-19 evolves and mutates, the same concerns pop up about whether the variant evades vaccines, makes people sicker than the old versions, and increases transmissibility. What we know about the Delta variant is reassuring.
One of the most important questions is whether vaccines are still working well. The best way...
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter said on Monday that it was suspending Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from its service for 12 hours after she posted messages that violated its policy against sharing misleading information about the coronavirus.
Ms. Greene, Republican of Georgia, has been an outspoken opponent of vaccines and masks as tools to curb the pandemic.
In tweets on Sunday and Monday, she argued that Covid-19 was not dangerous for people unless they were obese...
