President Biden to declare the pandemic over…..
But?
It won’t be that easy to go back to pre-pandemic America for a LONG while …..
Cue the fireworks.
President Joe Biden wants to imbue Independence Day with new meaning this year by encouraging nationwide celebrations to mark the country’s effective return to normalcy after 16 months of coronavirus pandemic disruption.
Even as the U.S. is set to cross the grim milestone of 600,000 deaths from the virus on Tuesday, the White House is expressing growing certainty that July Fourth will serve as a breakthrough moment in the nation’s recovery. That’s even though the U.S. is not expected to quite reach its goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated by the holiday.
As COVID-19 case rates and deaths drop to levels not seen since the first days of the outbreak, travel picks up and schools and businesses reopen, Biden is proclaiming “a summer of freedom” to celebrate Americans resuming their pre-pandemic lives.
The holiday will see the largest event yet of Biden’s presidency: He plans to host first responders, essential workers and military service members and their families on the South Lawn for a cookout and to watch the fireworks over the National Mall. Well more than 1,000 guests are expected, officials said, with final arrangements still to be sorted out.
The plan shows the dramatic shift in thinking since Biden just three months ago cautiously held out hope that people might be able to hold small cookouts by the Fourth, an idea that seems quaint now given the swift pace of reopening.
“By July the 4th, there’s a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbeque and celebrate Independence Day,” Biden had said as he marked the one-year anniversary of the pandemic on March 11. “That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.”….
Premature in my opinion.
Agreed Jack….
Probably as good as things will get going into the fall Biden’s been told….
This IS politics and the economy….
And most Governor’s are dealing back restrictions anyways…
School’s will be in-class in the fall…
People are eating indoors and sports stadiums are almost full….
The governors of New York and California, the states hit earliest and hardest by the pandemic, triumphantly announced on Tuesday that they had lifted virtually all coronavirus restrictions on businesses and social gatherings as both states hit milestones in vaccinating their residents….
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Both states will still abide by mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has advised that unvaccinated people should wear masks indoors and maintain social distancing. Some stricter restrictions will remain in correctional and health care facilities, as well as in schools, public transit and homeless shelters.
And the decision to end many of the precautions, such as allowing vaccinated customers to walk around without masks, will be up to individual businesses. Some may decide to keep them in place in order to allow their clientele and employees to feel safe…
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Los Angeles Times
@latimes
With mask restrictions lifted for vaccinated people in most public settings, many said they are not that eager to stop wearing the face coverings.
The U.S. government will invest $3.2 billion to develop antiviral pills for Covid-19, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday. Such a treatment could keep people out of the hospital and potentially save many lives in the years to come, as the virus becomes a perennial threat despite the distribution of effective vaccines….
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Biden admits his goals on the pandemic are not gonna be met….
Quote of the Day
“I will give it to you straight, the good, the bad and the truth… and the truth is that deaths and hospitalizations are drastically down in places where people are getting vaccinated. But unfortunately, cases of hospitalizations are not going down in many places. In the lower vaccination rate states, they’re actually going up in some places.”
— President Joe Biden, quoted by Washington Post, on potentially not meeting his July 4th goal of having 70% of American adults vaccinated.
David Hogg
@davidhogg111
One thing I will miss from social distancing and mask wearing- not getting sick for months at a time.
DeSantis gets another political victory
That is stupidly UNHealthy….
A federal judge said Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can’t enforce its rules for coronavirus-era sailing against cruise ships in Florida starting July 18.
The decision was hailed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — who filed suit against the public health agency in April — as a “major victory.”
“The CDC has been wrong all along, and they knew it,” DeSantis said in a statement, alleging that the agency was trying to “sink” the industry. “Today, we are securing this victory for Florida families, for the cruise industry, and for every state that wants to preserve its rights in the face of unprecedented federal overreach.”
Under the 124-page ruling from U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, the CDC’s conditional sail order will become a “‘nonbinding ‘consideration,’ ‘recommendation’ or ‘guideline’ ” when applied to Florida sailings on July 18….
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Maybe a Pyrrhic victory…
DeSantis is now locked into a confrontation with the cruise ship industry over the equivalent f vaccine “passports” which he opposes and has prohibited in Florida.
The cruise ships want to test all passengers before the board the ship and have them produce proof of vaccination.
Until something like this happens,it’s difficult to see the cruise industry recover .Talk is unless DeSantis relents cruise ships might pull out of Florida.
Politically DeSantis having ,in typical Right Wing fashion ,politicized public health measures Can’t back down.
You know them damn cruise ships are run by a buncha “libruls!”
One cruise ship super spreader report would cost them the summer….
And DeSantis would surely NOT own up fir any blame….
Jack, while they were notably absent from Charleston Harbor last week when we went sailing there I am guessing during the pre COVID times the city was a cruise ship port. Maybe not on the same level as Tampa or Miami but still. How has the SC Gov reacted to that issue? Is he on the same page as De Santis?
Actually only one cruise shop docks at Charleston to receive passengers.Several dock for the day.The cruise terminal is like 40 years old.The Port Authority Wants to build a new one but there is a lot of local opposition ,particularly among people who live near the waterfront.
A federal judge in Florida on Friday ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) coronavirus-era sailing orders were an overreach of power, issuing a preliminary injunction temporarily barring the CDC from enforcing the guidelines.
Judge Steven Merryday for the Middle District of Florida in his ruling sided with the Sunshine State in its argument that the “CDC’s conditional sailing order and the implementing orders exceed the authority delegated to CDC.”
As a result, Merryday approved Florida’s motion for a preliminary injunction suspending the mandatory guidelines for cruise ships, writing that the CDC is “preliminary enjoined from enforcing against a cruise ship arriving in, within, or departing from a port in Florida the conditional sailing order and the later measures.”
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