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  • #16
    Neosho City Council rejects new COVID ordinance, repeals current one

    Neosho City Council rejects new COVID ordinance, repeals current one

    By Joe Hadsall | Digital Editor Jul 9, 2020 Updated Jul 9, 2020


    https://www.joplinglobe.com/coronavi...s-current-one/
    http://christian-identity.net/forum/...1537#post21537
    http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...1537#post21537


    Instead of adjusting its current COVID-19 ordinance, the Neosho City Council removed it completely.

    "We can go back to normal life in Neosho," said Mayor Carmin Allen.

    With 4-0 votes, council members removed sections that called for adjustments to the current ordinance, leaving alone a section that repealed the city's existing ordinance. Councilman William Doubek was excused as absent.

    More than 130 people attended the special meeting, held Thursday at the Neosho Civic Auditorium.

    Before members of the public spoke, the council expressed support for an amendment to the ordinance that allowed churches to host their full capacity allowed by building and fire codes.

    That did not stave off criticism from people who spoke against passing the ordinance, saying that it was too much of an intrusion of government into private lives. More than 20 people spoke during the meeting, all of them asking for the council to vote against it. One person, who did not attend, had their statement in favor of the ordinance read by City Clerk Cheyenne Wright.

    "Across the country, ordinances desire to put churches on the same level as theaters and bowling alleys," said Jeremie Bridges, pastor of Canopy Christian Fellowship. "The First Amendment allows free exercise of religion, and you have no right to limit that. The only acceptable limit is no limit."

    Todd Decker, pastor of First Baptist Church of Neosho, said that the halting of services has taken a toll on his congregation, and that further limits would continue that damage.

    "We have been good neighbors. We have canceled sports and activities," Decker said. "But the damage is becoming evident. We see it in our children and families. Our people need to gather for worship, and not be prohibited from that."

    Decker also called on churches to exercise caution and social distancing during those services.

    Members also criticized the city's process over the last few days. The ordinance was to have been discussed during the council's Tuesday meeting, but the ordinance up for discussion did not contain the allowance for churches. The city posted a statement on its Facebook page apologizing for the error.

    A crowd of more than 50 turned out to Tuesday's meeting, presumably over the omission of churches. Allen said that instead of amending the ordinance during Tuesday's meeting, Thursday's special session was called and held in a bigger venue to allow more people to attend and speak.

    A few of the speakers called for the mayor and others to resign over the situation. Many in the crowd, who were not wearing masks, applauded after each presentation against the ordinance. Some of the speakers included former mayors, such as State Rep. Ben Baker and Charles Collinsworth.

    The ordinance would have updated the city's policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the following ways:

    • Businesses and organizations that own buildings open to the public would have their occupancy capped at 50% of their regular occupancy specified by fire and building codes. Educational institutions and day care centers are exempt from this provision. (An amendment earlier approved by the council added churches to this section.)

    • Gatherings of 15 or more people would have been prohibited unless organizers of the gathering presented a letter from the Newton County Health Department approving the organizers' disease prevention strategies.

    • Violations would have been punished under Section 100.130 of the city's charter, which allows for fines of up to $500 and jail sentences of up to three months.

    Thursday's result was a change in direction from previous meetings over the past weeks.

    The ordinance was rooted in discussions the council has held over several previous meetings. In a meeting on June 16, Allen and Councilman Tom Workman said they would like churches to have the same 50% occupancy that businesses and restaurants had in the previous version of the city's order.

    On June 30, a special meeting was held to hear more about the status of the disease and how its spread would be controlled. Dr. Rob McNab, director of Freeman's COVID-19 unit, and other health officials pointed to a spike in cases that led to the Joplin region being labeled as a national hotspot.

    On Thursday evening the Newton County Health Department announced the number of the county's COVID-19 cases rose to 635, with 372 cases in isolation, five hospitalized, 260 released from isolation and three deaths.

    Allen said after the meeting that people who spoke changed his mind about how to vote.

    As for further action, Allen said the city will wait for further directives from the governor, and that people concerned about the spread should take precautions to protect themselves.

    "I'm diabetic, with a heart condition. I'm high-risk, so I need to take precautions," Allen said.

    Follow Digital Editor Joe Hadsall on Twitter at @JoeHadsall.


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    • #18
      State of emergency extended as virus hits Missouri hospitals

      State of emergency extended as virus hits Missouri hospitals


      https://www.joplinglobe.com/coronavi...b59c220e1.html
      http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2032#post22032
      http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2032#post22032


      COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday extended Missouri's state of emergency through March as hospitals struggled to keep up with a rise in coronavirus cases.

      Although there are sufficient beds for patients, the hospitals don't have enough staff to treat the increasing number of sick people, Parson said.

      The state is considering sending in the military and asking for help from medical workers in other states to supplement hospital staffing, he said.

      Coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations are all up.

      According to data from the state health department, 27,358 new virus infections were reported in the past week. That's more than 3,900 new cases a day on average.

      For context, Parson said more new cases were reported in October than during the first eight months of the pandemic in Missouri, and new cases in November have already surpassed October.

      At least 67 people died from the virus in the past week.

      Roughly a quarter of coronavirus tests came back positive in the past week, and 2,629 patients suffering from the virus were hospitalized as of Tuesday.

      The Missouri Hospital Association has asked Parson to require face masks across the state to help curb the virus and ease the burden on hospitals, Jefferson City's KRCG-TV reported.

      The governor on Thursday again refused to do so.

      Instead, he repeated his emphasis on personal responsibility and called on Missourians to do their part by wearing masks, social distancing and washing their hands. He said Thanksgiving should be different this year as families adjust plans to protect each other.

      “It’s up to every one of us to decide whether ... we’re going to take the personal responsibility to slow this virus down,” Parson said.

      Parson said his administration planned to send guidance to local governments on Thursday and would urge local leaders to take action to curb the virus' spread.



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      • #19
        UPDATED: Joplin approves mandatory mask ordinance in special meeting

        UPDATED: Joplin approves mandatory mask ordinance in special meeting

        From staff reports | news@joplinglobe.com
        Nov 19, 2020



        https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/loc...e2d676ee8.html
        http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2037#post22037
        http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2037#post22037


        After hearing testimony by representatives of six hospitals and health agencies that a mask requirement is needed to try to reduce the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases as well as comments from 28 residents, the Joplin City Council enacted a new mask mandate Thursday night, effective immediately.

        The measure will be in force until 11:59 p.m. Feb. 28, unless the council revises it before then.

        There was nearly three hours of public comment on the proposed measure as well as council discussion at the special meeting. Councilman Keenan Cortez made a motion to approve the mandate, seconded by Anthony Monteleone. The vote was 6-3, with Gary Shaw, Doug Lawson and Phil Stinnett casting the "no" votes.

        The council decided to consider a mask mandate again in response to a letter area cities and counties received from health authorities asking for the requirement. Joplin had imposed a mandate in July and allowed it to expire in August.

        Dr. Ron McNab, head of the COVID-19 units at Freeman Hospital West, said that the local health care system is in danger of becoming overwhelmed with coronavirus cases.

        "COVID-19 cases in our community are climbing precipitously," he said. In six weeks, the hospital has seen virus admissions climb from one in 10 patients to one in four patients. Those patients take a lot more resources for care than some of the other types of illnesses and diseases that are treated at the hospital.

        The average length of stay is 11 days for those patients, McNab said. The average length of stay for other patients is 4 1/2 days.

        Jeremy Drinkwitz, president of Mercy Hospital, said the ability to take care patients at Mercy is getting limited because of the amount of staff and resources needed to take care of COVID-19 patients. Currently, 39 percent of the hospital's inpatients are being treated for the disease. He said the health care system needs help to try to reduce that number.

        The nation's medical experts are recommending the use of masks to push down infection rates, Drinkwitz said. "They're telling us this is the right thing to do. I'm asking you to follow the science."

        On top of the extra care needed for those patients, 52 of the hospital's workers were out Thursday with the virus.

        A mask mandate could push down the case numbers enough to get through until COVID-19 vaccines are available, Drinkwitz said.

        Stephanie Brady, executive director of the Community Clinic, also testified about the drain virus cases are causing at the clinic. She said the clinic provides primary care for about 2,000 area residents who do have insurance. The clinic is seeing 10 to 15 patients a day with active symptoms and is getting calls from about 20 people a day seeking testing for the virus.

        "We are really struggling to balance the needs of chronic patients with the COVID patients," she said. Workers are scared of the spread and feel like the community does not care about them because people have resisted wearing masks.

        Steve Douglas, of Access Family Care, said several of its clinics have been shut down because of a shortage of workers resulting from the COVID-19 demand. "We are in a staffing crisis," he said. "We are just worn down. ... Our system is at a breaking point."

        Emergency rooms would be flooded with patients if Access were forced to close entirely, he said.

        But as during past council decisions regarding the pandemic, a number of people were in the audience to speak against the mandate.

        Abbie Covington told the council, "We are not at war with you. We are at war with the devil." She went on to pray for each council member, saying favorable things in the prayers for those members with whom she agreed, but calling on God to make the others sick at their stomachs if they did not "do the right thing" and reject the mandate.

        Troy Kinast contended that many states that have mask mandates still have higher case numbers than those without the regulations.

        Rod Noran told the council that "the problem is we have lost faith. We don't believe we have a creator," and that is causing the pandemic. "I want you to listen to the creator of the science," and turn to faith in Jesus Christ for an answer as well as pursuing innovations in medical treatments rather than using masks.

        Attorney Debra Ferguson threatened the council with recall petitions if it passed the mandate, holding up what presumably were the petitions. There was an outburst among some in the audience, and one man shouted: "I will not wear a mask. I will not wear a mask."

        Mayor Ryan Stanley, who had said at the start of the meeting that outbursts would not be tolerated, told the man to leave the council chambers.

        Shaw said that although his heart went out to the medical professionals who asked for the mandate and he knows some people believe very strongly in masks, he questions how well they work.

        "I want to help people, but I want people to help themselves," and residents should be allowed to do as they believe, he said.

        Because there also are strong beliefs against masks and a mandate expressed by some residents in comments made at the meeting, "I'm concerned that a mask mandate will divide us when we need to be together," Shaw said.

        After the vote to impose the mandate, Covington shouted out, and she too was told the leave the room.

        .

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        • #20
          No plans yet for mask orders from other cities

          No plans yet for mask orders from other cities

          None of the other towns in Jasper & Newton Counties want to damage their local commerce

          By Joe Hadsall and Debby Woodin news@joplinglobe.com
          Nov 20, 2020



          https://www.joplinglobe.com/coronavi...d088db048.html
          http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2047#post22047
          http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2047#post22047


          Though they voted against it, two of Joplin's City Council members expressed disappointment with cities across the region for not answering Mayor Ryan Stanley's call to work on an effort to pass mandatory mask orders.

          "Our mayor reached out twice to the area counties and area cites, and they are all part of this same situation," said Councilman Gary Shaw to Jasper County Health Department Director Tony Moehr during a Thursday meeting. "To be honest, I just wanted to thank you for being here and express disappointment in our neighbors for not standing up and taking a serious look at this thing as well."

          On the day after the Joplin City Council adopted a mask ordinance, other cities across the region announced no similar meetings or efforts, suggesting that the city of Joplin — the home of the region's hospitals — may again be on its own.

          The Globe was unable to reach officials with the cities of Carl Junction, Carthage, Neosho and Webb City to get reactions to the Joplin council's motion or the comments of Shaw and Councilman Phil Stinnett, who also said Thursday he was disappointed over the silence.

          The Jasper County Commission plans to discuss passage of such an order but delayed a decision on Friday because the presiding commissioner, John Bartosh, is recovering from COVID-19. Commissioners thought earlier in the week they would be able to meet Friday to talk about their response to a letter from local medical providers seeking a mask mandate.

          Commissioner Darieus Adams said the commission may try to hold its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday and talk about it then.

          Moehr testified on behalf of a mask mandate Thursday night at a special meeting of the Joplin City Council. Moehr said the county has seen a sharp increase in cases. The positivity rate of COVID tests is about 30%, "so we are not going in the right direction" in controlling the spread, he said.

          But getting the county's other cities to buy in may prove challenging.

          After representatives from the area's hospitals and health care facilities asked in a joint letter for mask orders to slow down the rate of infection, city leaders in Carl Junction, Carthage and Webb City issued a joint statement of their own. In the statement, they encouraged people to wear masks but because of concerns about enforcement said mask wearing would not be mandatory.

          Earlier this week, Newton County Health Department Director Larry Bergner said if he heard of interest from the county's cities, he would consider submitting one to the Newton County Commission. Bergner said he is also skeptical about enforcement of such an order.

          So far, Neosho has given no indications about what it will do. Days after Joplin passed its first mask ordinance in July, the city moved in the opposite direction and removed all of its COVID-19 restrictions, including capacity limits.



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          • #21
            Missouri governor, lawmakers brace for tighter budget

            Missouri governor, lawmakers brace for tighter budget

            Dec 11, 2020



            https://www.joplinglobe.com/coronavi...9db61716f.html
            http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2114#post22114
            http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2119#post22119


            JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Mike Parson and top Republican lawmakers on Thursday said they're expecting Missouri to bring in less money next year as the state continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

            Parson and legislative budget leaders predict Missouri will collect about $9.78 billion in revenue next fiscal year, which begins in July. That’s about $200 million less than the $9.98 billion that officials previously planned on collecting this year.

            Parson in a statement said the pandemic has had “an overwhelming impact on our economy, but we are already making a strong recovery and remain optimistic for the coming year.”

            The governor and lawmakers use revenue estimates as a guide to help craft balanced budgets.

            Parson also said his administration and the Legislature revised their earlier revenue estimates for this year.

            Instead of $9.98 billion, officials now predict Missouri will collect closer to $10.2 billion this year. But that’s artificially high because the government gave taxpayers the option to delay filing until much later this year, meaning some waited until what's technically a new fiscal year in Missouri.

            In other words, monies which would be totted to 2021 were already collected this year. Otherwise there would have been an even greater revenue shortfall, (PML Notes)

            In effect, that means Missouri collected less last fiscal year but got a delayed bump in tax revenue this year.

            Parson will propose what likely will be a slimmer state spending plan when lawmakers return to the Capitol in January.


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            • #22
              Local experts react to milestone in pandemic deaths

              Local experts react to milestone in pandemic deaths

              By Kevin McClintock kmcclintock@joplinglobe.com


              https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/loc...4b610e44d.html
              http://christian-identity.net/forum/...2471#post22471
              http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...2471#post22471

              .


              The United States has reached a grim milestone with multiple sources recently reporting COVID-19-related deaths in the neighborhood of half of a million in less than a year’s time.

              To put that number in perspective on a regional level, that’s the equivalent of losing the entire population of Jasper, Newton, Barry, Barton, Lawrence, McDonald, Vernon, Dade, Cedar, Bates and Henry counties in Missouri, along with Cherokee and Crawford counties in Kansas and Ottawa and Delaware counties in Oklahoma: a total of 500,557 men, women and children.

              “I’m very sad that we’ve reached this milestone,” said Dr. Eden Esguerra, infectious disease specialist at Mercy Hospital Joplin.

              She said Monday that she’s struggled to properly come to terms with that six-digit number.

              “I live in Joplin — that’s 50,000 people. Carthage has 15,000 (people). How many cities around here would disappear before we get to 500,000? My heart beats faster when I think about it. It becomes scary, you know.”

              While saddened by the numbers and wishing they would end immediately, Rob McNab, director of Freeman Health System’s COVID-19 unit, said he wasn’t surprised by the counts.

              “Unfortunately I think we’ve known what the death rate would be (from the very beginning) — somewhere in the high 1.7% to 2% rate," he said Monday. "It really boils down to math. The more people that you let get infected, that rate is what happens. It’s (simply) a reflection of the severity of how much we’ve spread the infection.

              “When you think about the top three killers of Americans … (COVID-19) is now No. 3 based on just the sheer volume numbers. This is right up there with cancer, right up there with lung disease, so (COVID) has been profoundly impactful.”

              In late March, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top expert on infectious diseases, estimated that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die of the pandemic. At the time, there had been 2,200 deaths nationwide. By October, with 200,000 Americans already dead after a summer of back-to-back spikes, the projected death total had reached 400,000.

              A single death is a horrible tragedy, said Ryan Talken, Joplin’s health department director, but a half-million deaths “is a number that would shock anyone. Everybody had hoped that number would be lower.

              “If you had asked me last March if, a year from now, we’d be standing here and still the main story was COVID-related, I would not have (believed) it. I would have thought we’d be past that.”

              During Monday’s media briefing at Joplin City Hall, Talken said Joplin’s COVID-19 numbers were “looking a lot better” than a month ago. There were 40 active cases of the virus reported among Joplin residents. Local hospitals had 33 virus patients admitted, with six of those from Joplin. The seven-day average of cases is at seven per day, a 24% drop from last week’s numbers, and that trend “is continuing in a downward motion.”

              Joplin’s positive rate — the percentage of people being tested positive for COVID-19, was at 7%, which is right around the state’s 6.7% average, he said.

              “Our numbers are trending down, and it’s up to everybody to make that continue to happen,” Talken said. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re seeing the light.”

              Americans are now halfway to “getting back to living our lives that we traditionally expect to,” McNab said.

              “I think we’ve made the railroad tracks," he said. "And I think we have a train on the track. But I think the train now needs to make it into the station." By encouraging Americans to get their vaccinations, “we now have the tools that we need … to get the 70% of the population to be immune to this disease, one way or the other."

              Herd immunity, he continued, comes in two ways: "You either get enough people vaccinated or enough people have got to be immune because they've seen and survived the virus. And if you do it the (latter) way, that comes at a toll of about 6 1/2 million people who will have to lose their lives for us to get herd immunity without the vaccinations. So it's super critical that state and federal government keeps that (vaccination) supply coming."

              While vaccinations continue to roll out locally — as of Monday, roughly 11% of Jasper County’s population had received at least one dose — it’s equally important for people to continue to mask and observe social distancing.

              “There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Esguerra said. The situation is "much better than where we were during (November’s) peak, but we can’t let our guard down."

              “I’m still very much on guard when I think of what this virus can do,” she said. “I’ve seen it; it still scares me to death.”

              Multiple sources, tallies

              Several sources have different COVID-19 death totals due to the ways they gather the information. For example, the New York Times/Wikipedia tally has the U.S. toll at 499,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Data Tracker is reporting 497,415 cases. Most of the major news outlets — NBC, CBS, NPR and the Guardian — have reported the toll exceeding 500,000. The Globe has been using the tally reported by Worldometer. It reported the 500,000-mark being eclipsed last week. It describes itself as being run by an international team of developers, researchers and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format around the world. It is published by a small and independent digital media company based in the United States.

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              • #23
                Unvaccinated Missourians fuel COVID: 'We will be the canary'

                Unvaccinated Missourians fuel COVID: 'We will be the canary'

                As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated


                https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/fou...bbac10671.html
                http://christian-identity.net/forum/...3072#post23072
                http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3072#post23072


                KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated.

                Intensive care beds are filling up with young, unvaccinated patients, and staff members are getting burned out fighting a battle that was supposed to be in its final throes.

                The hope among some health leaders is that the rest of the U.S. might at least learn something from Missouri’s plight.

                “If people elsewhere in the country are looking to us and saying, ‘No thanks,’ and they are getting vaccinated, that is good,” said Erik Frederick, chief administrative officer at Mercy Hospital Springfield, which has been inundated with COVID-19 patients as the variant first identified in India rips through the largely nonimmunized community. “We will be the canary.”

                The state now leads the nation with the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections, and the surge is happening largely in a politically conservative farming region in the northern part of the state and in the southwestern corner, which includes Springfield and Branson, the country music mecca in the Ozark Mountains where big crowds are gathering again at the city’s theaters and other attractions.

                While over 53% of all Americans have received at least one shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most southern and northern Missouri counties are well short of 40%. One county is at just 13%.

                Cases remain below their winter highs in Southwest Missouri, but the trajectory is steeper than in previous surges, Frederick said. As of Tuesday, 153 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at Mercy and another Springfield hospital, CoxHealth, up from 31 just over a month ago, county figures show.

                These patients are also younger than earlier in the pandemic — 60% to 65% of those in the ICU over the weekend at Mercy were under 40, according to Frederick, who noted that younger adults are much less likely to be vaccinated — and some are pregnant.

                He is hiring traveling nurses and respiratory therapists to help out his fatigued staff as the rest of the country tries to leave the pandemic behind.

                “I feel like last year at this time it was health care heroes and everybody was celebrating and bringing food to the hospital and doing prayer vigils and stuff, and now everyone is like, ‘The lake is open. Let’s go.’ We are still here doing this,” he said.

                There are also warning signs across the state line: Arkansas on Tuesday reported its biggest one-day jump in cases in more than three months. The state also has low vaccination rates.

                Lagging rates — especially among young adults — are becoming an increasing source of concern elsewhere around the country, as is the delta variant.

                The mutant version now accounts more than 20% of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S., doubling in just two weeks, the CDC said Tuesday. It is responsible for half of new cases across a swath that includes Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

                “The delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. He said there is a “real danger” of local surges like the one in Missouri in places with deep vaccine resistance.

                To help counter the threat, administration officials are stepping up efforts to vaccinate Americans ages 18 to 26, who have proved least likely to get the shot when it’s available to them.

                Elsewhere around the world, Britain, with an even higher vaccination rate than the U.S., has postponed the lifting of remaining restrictions on socializing in England because of the rapid spread of the variant. Israel, another vaccination success story, is reacting by tightening rules on travelers.

                In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Parson has taken the position that it is better to ask people to take “personal responsibility” than to enact restrictions.

                Missouri never had a mask mandate, and Parson signed a law last week placing limits on public health restrictions and barring governments from requiring proof of vaccination to use public facilities and transportation.

                Missouri Health Department spokeswoman Lisa Cox said the agency is encouraging people to get vaccinated but that “this is the Show-Me State, and Missourians are skeptical.”

                Frederick said some people in the heavily Republican state are resistant because they feel as if Democrats are pushing the vaccine.

                “I keep telling people, while we are busy fighting with each other, this thing is picking us off one by one,” he said. “It takes no sides. It has no political affiliation. It is not red. It is not blue. It is a virus. and if we don’t protect ourselves, we are going to do a lot of damage to our community.”

                Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth, lamented in a tweet that while a number of major news organizations have contacted the hospital about the rise in cases, Fox News was not among them.

                “Fox,” he tweeted, “is the most popular cable news in our area — you can help educate on Delta, vaccines and can save lives.”

                Lisa Meeks, 49, of Springfield, is among those who haven’t been vaccinated. She said that she is a Christian and that God gave her a strong immune system.

                “As of right now, nobody knows anything long term or short term about these vaccines because they are brand-new,” she said, despite months of real-world evidence that the vaccines are highly safe and effective. “And so people are now basically the lab rats.”

                An offer of free beer from Mother’s Brewing Co. in Springfield for those who get vaccinated drew 20 to 50 people to each of the first three clinics.

                “We keep trying,” said Jeff Schrag, owner and founder of Mother’s Brewing. “It is a game of inches.”

                As immunizations slow, the delta variant has become the predominant form of the virus in the region. Aaron Schekorra, a spokesman for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said it makes up 93% of the random sample of cases that the county is sending for analysis, up from 70% three weeks ago.

                He said that unvaccinated people gathering for graduation celebrations and Memorial Day festivities also fueled the spread of the virus. The events came just as the community lifted its mask mandate.

                “My concern,” he said, “would be that this is a preview of what is to come in other parts of the country that don’t have higher vaccination rates.”

                .

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                • #24
                  Unvaccinated Missourians fuel COVID-19: 'We will be the canary'

                  Unvaccinated Missourians fuel COVID-19: 'We will be the canary'

                  As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated



                  https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/fou...bbac10671.html
                  http://christian-identity.net/forum/...3128#post23128
                  http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3129#post23129


                  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated.

                  Intensive care beds are filling up with young, unvaccinated patients, and staff members are getting burned out fighting a battle that was supposed to be in its final throes.

                  The hope among some health leaders is that the rest of the U.S. might at least learn something from Missouri’s plight.

                  “If people elsewhere in the country are looking to us and saying, ‘No thanks,’ and they are getting vaccinated, that is good,” said Erik Frederick, chief administrative officer at Mercy Hospital Springfield, which has been inundated with COVID-19 patients as the variant first identified in India rips through the largely nonimmunized community. “We will be the canary.”

                  The state now leads the nation with the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections, and the surge is happening largely in a politically conservative farming region in the northern part of the state and in the southwestern corner, which includes Springfield and Branson, the country music mecca in the Ozark Mountains where big crowds are gathering again at the city’s theaters and other attractions.

                  While over 53% of all Americans have received at least one shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most southern and northern Missouri counties are well short of 40%. One county is at just 13%.

                  Cases remain below their winter highs in Southwest Missouri, but the trajectory is steeper than in previous surges, Frederick said. As of Tuesday, 153 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at Mercy and another Springfield hospital, CoxHealth, up from 31 just over a month ago, county figures show.

                  These patients are also younger than earlier in the pandemic — 60% to 65% of those in the ICU over the weekend at Mercy were under 40, according to Frederick, who noted that younger adults are much less likely to be vaccinated — and some are pregnant.

                  He is hiring traveling nurses and respiratory therapists to help out his fatigued staff as the rest of the country tries to leave the pandemic behind.

                  “I feel like last year at this time it was health care heroes and everybody was celebrating and bringing food to the hospital and doing prayer vigils and stuff, and now everyone is like, ‘The lake is open. Let’s go.’ We are still here doing this,” he said.

                  There are also warning signs across the state line: Arkansas on Tuesday reported its biggest one-day jump in cases in more than three months. The state also has low vaccination rates.

                  Lagging rates — especially among young adults — are becoming an increasing source of concern elsewhere around the country, as is the delta variant.

                  The mutant version now accounts more than 20% of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S., doubling in just two weeks, the CDC said Tuesday. It is responsible for half of new cases across a swath that includes Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

                  “The delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. He said there is a “real danger” of local surges like the one in Missouri in places with deep vaccine resistance.

                  To help counter the threat, administration officials are stepping up efforts to vaccinate Americans ages 18 to 26, who have proved least likely to get the shot when it’s available to them.

                  Elsewhere around the world, Britain, with an even higher vaccination rate than the U.S., has postponed the lifting of remaining restrictions on socializing in England because of the rapid spread of the variant. Israel, another vaccination success story, is reacting by tightening rules on travelers.

                  In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Parson has taken the position that it is better to ask people to take “personal responsibility” than to enact restrictions.

                  Missouri never had a mask mandate, and Parson signed a law last week placing limits on public health restrictions and barring governments from requiring proof of vaccination to use public facilities and transportation.

                  Missouri Health Department spokeswoman Lisa Cox said the agency is encouraging people to get vaccinated but that “this is the Show-Me State, and Missourians are skeptical.”

                  Frederick said some people in the heavily Republican state are resistant because they feel as if Democrats are pushing the vaccine.

                  “I keep telling people, while we are busy fighting with each other, this thing is picking us off one by one,” he said. “It takes no sides. It has no political affiliation. It is not red. It is not blue. It is a virus. and if we don’t protect ourselves, we are going to do a lot of damage to our community.”

                  Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth, lamented in a tweet that while a number of major news organizations have contacted the hospital about the rise in cases, Fox News was not among them.

                  “Fox,” he tweeted, “is the most popular cable news in our area — you can help educate on Delta, vaccines and can save lives.”

                  Lisa Meeks, 49, of Springfield, is among those who haven’t been vaccinated. She said that she is a Christian and that God gave her a strong immune system.

                  “As of right now, nobody knows anything long term or short term about these vaccines because they are brand-new,” she said, despite months of real-world evidence that the vaccines are highly safe and effective. “And so people are now basically the lab rats.”

                  An offer of free beer from Mother’s Brewing Co. in Springfield for those who get vaccinated drew 20 to 50 people to each of the first three clinics.

                  “We keep trying,” said Jeff Schrag, owner and founder of Mother’s Brewing. “It is a game of inches.”

                  As immunizations slow, the delta variant has become the predominant form of the virus in the region. Aaron Schekorra, a spokesman for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said it makes up 93% of the random sample of cases that the county is sending for analysis, up from 70% three weeks ago.

                  He said that unvaccinated people gathering for graduation celebrations and Memorial Day festivities also fueled the spread of the virus. The events came just as the community lifted its mask mandate.

                  “My concern,” he said, “would be that this is a preview of what is to come in other parts of the country that don’t have higher vaccination rates.”

                  .


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                  • #25
                    Mercy to require COVID-19 vaccines for employees

                    Mercy to require COVID-19 vaccines for employees

                    By Emily Younker | eyounker@joplinglobe.com Jul 7, 2021 Updated 2 hrs ago


                    https://www.joplinglobe.com/coronavi...045e7bb90.html
                    http://christian-identity.net/forum/...3134#post23134
                    http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3134#post23134


                    Mercy became the first major health care provider in the Joplin area to require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with the announcement Wednesday that employee vaccinations must be received by Sept. 30.

                    The new requirement comes as the delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly in Missouri, health officials said. Cases and hospitalizations have been on a slow and steady increase in Southwest Missouri for several weeks.

                    “This decision is about protecting our patients,” said Jeremy Drinkwitz, president of Mercy Hospital Joplin, in a statement. “We’re responsible for keeping our patients safe. It’s the right thing for our co-workers to protect each other. It’s what the Sisters of Mercy, who have served Joplin for almost 125 years, would expect us to do.”

                    Both Pfizer and Moderna have applied to the Food and Drug Administration for full approval of their COVID-19 vaccines, which is expected soon. Health officials have said COVID vaccines are safe and have proven effective, with more than 171 million Americans already vaccinated.

                    “We need to stop the transmission of this virus in our community. We need to protect the people we serve and the co-workers who help us do that,” said Dr. Tracy Godfrey, president of Mercy Clinic Joplin, in a statement. “Our goal is to make sure that everyone who serves across Mercy has the life-saving protection the COVID-19 vaccines offer.”

                    Mercy said it will work with employees to develop a plan for compliance ahead of the scheduled deadline. About 75% of Mercy employees across the Midwest are vaccinated, according to a spokeswoman. Employees not approved for a religious or medical exemption will face disciplinary action including termination, she said.

                    Freeman Health System doesn't currently have a policy mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for employees, said Paula Baker, president and CEO. Employees in direct health care positions wear masks regardless of whether they are vaccinated, as required by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in following guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she said.

                    "That said, we strongly encourage employees to get vaccinated," she said in a statement. "Additionally, we persistently enforce our mask-wearing policy and restricted visitor guidelines for everyone's health and well-being. In fact, our physicians and other staff have responded very favorably to the need for COVID-19 vaccination. A large percentage of our physicians and direct-care staff have already received the vaccination in one of our many ongoing COVID-19 vaccination clinics."

                    CoxHealth, a Springfield-based health system with hospitals in Lamar and Monett, also doesn't require COVID-19 vaccination to be a condition of employment.

                    "COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be highly efficacious and safe, can save lives, and end this pandemic. We strongly advocate for their use. However, we understand that many in our community are hesitant to become vaccinated, including some employees," CoxHealth said in a statement released through a spokesperson. "It appears likely the emergency use authorization, under which vaccines are currently available, may be removed shortly. A decision on the EUA status will further inform our decision about mandating vaccines, and we are hopeful that those that are hesitant may gain further confidence in the vaccine if full approval is granted. Meanwhile, we continue to follow the most strenuous CDC guidelines to assure we have a safe place to work and receive care."

                    Mercy isn't the first health care provider in Missouri to require vaccinations for employees. BJC HealthCare, Washington University, St. Luke's Hospital and SSM Health all announced last month that they would institute vaccine requirements, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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                    • #26
                      The delta variant is ravaging this Missouri city. Many residents are still wary of vaccines.



                      https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...elta-outbreak/
                      http://christian-identity.net/forum/...3178#post23178
                      http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3178#post23178

                      SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The worst of the pandemic seemed behind Mercy Hospital, those weeks last winter when the coronavirus wards were full of people struggling to breathe.

                      But after months of reprieve, the virus has come roaring back, sending unvaccinated young adults and middle-aged patients from across southwest Missouri there in droves as the highly transmissible delta variant tears through the region. The hospital has been treating more than 130 covid-19 patients each day since Sunday — more than the winter surge — and had to open a sixth ward. It came close to running out of ventilators earlier this month.

                      “We’re just very disheartened. This was all pretty avoidable,” said Wanda Brown, a nurse unit manager. “Last year, we were looking forward to the vaccine coming out because we really thought that that was going to be helpful for our community. We feel like we’ve taken giant leaps backward.”

                      Springfield, a city of 170,000 nestled in the Ozarks, has become a cautionary tale for how the more transmissible delta variant, now estimated to account for half of all new cases nationwide, can ravage poorly vaccinated communities and return them to the darkest days of the pandemic.

                      Missouri has reported one of the nation’s highest per capita increases in new coronavirus cases in recent weeks. Freeman Health System in Joplin, about 70 miles west of Springfield, announced the full reopening of its covid-19 ward in late June after downsizing in the spring because of a lack of patients. The delta variant has been linked to a broader regional outbreak spilling into Arkansas and Oklahoma, as well as emerging hot spots in Louisiana, Florida, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Cases and hospitalizations are strongly correlated with low vaccination rates, according to a Washington Post analysis.

                      Nationally, the coronavirus case rate has more than doubled since late June. The national vaccination rate has settled at close to 500,000 doses per day, one-sixth of the more than 3 million per day in mid-April.

                      Experts fear that the surge in Springfield, known as the birthplace of Bass Pro Shops and Andy’s Frozen Custard, is a harbinger of tensions to come as people play down the pandemic and refuse to get vaccinated even in the face of overwhelmed hospitals and preventable death. Instead of unifying the community, the surge has hardened divisions, unleashing anger from health-care workers fed up with vaccine misinformation and exposing deep antipathy toward the public health establishment.

                      Springfield was an early case study in proving effectiveness of masks

                      New infections are rapidly rising to levels not seen since early January, prompting the school system to reinstate a mask mandate for summer school. Almost every virus sample sequenced in June turned out to be the delta variant, which is significantly more transmissible than the strain that first arrived in the United States. Local health officials are trying to create an alternate care site for stable covid-19 patients as Wednesday’s 231 hospitalizations are on the verge of an all-time peak and are projected to surge beyond available capacity.

                      Coronavirus deaths in Greene County, where Springfield is located, had plunged this spring, but 23 people have succumbed since June 21. All but one were unvaccinated. The fire chief described the outbreak as a “mass-casualty event, happening in slow-motion.”

                      The Springfield-Greene County Health Department has prioritized vaccination in a county where only 35 percent of residents are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates are even lower for people in their 20s and 30s. But new daily vaccinations have largely stayed flat through June despite the outbreak’s toll, and health officials are battling false theories that the vaccines are somehow responsible for a surge in hospitalizations almost exclusively affecting the unvaccinated.

                      Tracking the coronavirus vaccine

                      “It’s a sad reality that we are facing,” said Katie Towns, the acting health director. “I don’t think we are coming out of it anytime soon. We are going to see more people get really sick. We are going to see a lot of people die.”

                      ‘You get it, and you give it to your mom’
                      Katlyn Mozingo, a 19-year-old rising sophomore at Springfield-based Missouri State University, carries the guilt of almost certainly infecting her mother.

                      Mozingo, who has severe allergies to nuts and certain medications, held off on a shot until after a July 20 appointment with her allergist to discuss the potential risks of vaccines. Her mother, Leanne Mozingo, 48, also waited, worried about side effects as a result of her complicated medical history, including ailments her doctors couldn’t diagnose.

                      But the coronavirus came home after Katlyn contracted a mild case after hanging out with a friend who also tested positive. Leanne wore a mask as she brought her daughter vegan chicken strips and would disinfect the bathroom regularly with Lysol. After her daughter recovered, Leanne’s throat began to ache. She started regularly using oxygen she would normally only use at night for her sleep apnea.

                      After waking up in the middle of the night screaming for help because she couldn’t breathe, Leanne was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Within days, she was on a ventilator. Katlyn hoped her mother would persevere, as she had done through severe bouts of depression and anxiety, stomach surgery, chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder, endometriosis and other chronic pain.

                      She embraced her sedated mother one last time on June 27 before doctors removed the ventilator. Her brother, DJ, who has autism and relied on his mother as a primary caregiver, watched their mother die on FaceTime from the hospital parking lot, unable to step inside because he was also infected.

                      “I keep on telling everyone she’s going to come home in a week, and we are going to be a big family again,” Katlyn Mozingo said. “We as young people don’t understand, because we feel like we are healthy and next thing you know, you get it, and you give it to your mom and she passes.”

                      ‘It’s two different worlds that people are in’
                      Doctors and nurses are fighting to overcome the perception that young adults do not need to worry about contracting the virus when they see evidence to the contrary every day.

                      “I’m seeing some people in their 30s and 40s that don’t have underlying health conditions, and they are very ill with this,” said Howard Jarvis, the emergency room medical director at CoxHealth South. “And sometimes they’re not so ill that they have to be admitted. They may be back in three or five days and do need to be admitted.”

                      What 7 ICU nurses want you to know about the battle against covid-19

                      CoxHealth, which is locally owned and the other major hospital in Springfield, publicized videos of bedside interviews of covid-19 patients urging people to get vaccinated and posted about a man in his 40s who told nurses he wished he had been vaccinated before he was intubated and later died.

                      But those posts also unleash comments from people doubting the severity of the surge. The skepticism isn’t all online.

                      One of Jarvis’s patients initially refused to get tested for the coronavirus, relenting only after other tests ruled out other illnesses. Jarvis still hears the occasional insistence on the false claim that vaccines contain tracking microchips.

                      Their neighbors called covid-19 a joke. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?

                      Hospital officials also say some patients have refused monoclonal antibodies proven effective when administered during early covid-19 treatment and demanded hydroxychloroquine promoted by Donald Trump during his presidency, even though studies have found that it is not effective.

                      U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory Thursday calling misinformation a threat to vaccination efforts and attempts to control the pandemic. “We live in a world where misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health,” he said at a news briefing.

                      Fed up, CoxHealth chief executive Steve Edwards, a frequent social media presence, tweeted July 1: “If you are making wildly disparaging comments about the vaccine, and have no public health expertise, you may be responsible for someone’s death. Shut up.”

                      That tweet won praise from people seeking catharsis when anti-vaccine voices have been loud and belligerent, but it also unleashed a backlash.

                      Nick Reed, a local conservative radio talk show host, devoted a show the next day to Edwards’s tweet. He said the message would erode community trust further and make patients with legitimate concerns about side effects more wary of getting honest answers from doctors at CoxHealth.

                      In an interview, Reed expressed sympathy for health-care workers frustrated from seeing the daily toll of the virus.

                      “It makes it difficult to understand there are people going about living their life and recognize what’s going on and recognize it can be very deadly and many have lost loved ones, but they have the luxury of standing back and evaluating the situation as a whole and wondering about the long-term effects of vaccines,” Reed said. “It’s two different worlds that people are in, and sometimes we don’t give grace and understanding to the other person’s world, and that can lead to this separation.”

                      Edwards stood by his tweet, which he said was clearly targeting people spreading false information and not those concerned about side effects.

                      “This is my hometown. I don’t treat it as a job. … When I’ve been in our covid ICU, I’ve seen people I know and it breaks my heart,” Edwards said in an interview. “I really don’t care about any kind of backlash I get by speaking the words that I do that I think will save lives.”

                      ‘We are feeling a lot of frustration and anger’
                      The CDC has deployed two staff members to assist in Springfield’s coronavirus response, including one focused on improving the communications strategy for vaccine holdouts.

                      Vaccine hesitancy morphs into hostility, as opposition to shots hardens

                      A major barrier is conservative reluctance in a county that Trump won by 20 percentage points and by even broader margins in the neighboring rural counties. A recent Washington Post-ABC poll found that nearly half of Republicans probably will not get their shots and that the Midwest is the most vaccine-averse region, with 27 percent saying they definitely will not get vaccinated.

                      Some Republican politicians have been vocal in urging their constituents to get vaccinated. They’ve been more muted in Missouri, where Gov. Mike Parson (R) has described vaccination as a “personal responsibility” and said health-care leaders need to stop trying to “scare” people into taking vaccines. He also instructed the state health department not to cooperate with the Biden administration on door-to-door vaccine outreach, even though local health authorities have been canvassing homes. Parson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

                      Towns, the acting health director, lamented that door-to-door outreach has joined the ranks of masks and vaccines as the latest routine public health practice lambasted by politicians. “It’s just unfortunate they’ve been politicized, because we are trying to combat a silent killer while also making people trust us,” she said.

                      The partisan divides are also playing out in contentious family discussions about the virus.

                      Hannah Brashers, a 27-year-old who works in Democratic politics, said she and other liberal friends worry about their conservative parents living in the nearby rural counties with much lower vaccination rates. Brashers has been trying to get her diabetic father to get vaccinated after the mother of one of her friends came close to death.

                      He’s not ardently opposed to vaccines, Brashers said, but instead worried about the lack of research on long-term side effects and reports of people who still become infected after vaccination. Brashers countered that those cases are far less likely to result in hospitalization or death.

                      Her persistence paid off: He called her on FaceTime on Wednesday and showed off the Band-Aid on his arm from his Johnson & Johnson shot. Brashers worries that other Republicans won’t be swayed.

                      “We are feeling a lot of frustration and anger because our lives are in danger and the lives of the people we love are in danger because there’s so much animosity toward the vaccine by the evangelical and conservative groups in the area,” she said.

                      Deep skepticism about the latest outbreak was on display outside the Bass Pro Shops complex that draws customers from around the region to buy fishing supplies and guns in a sprawling store that has zoo-like enclosures with alligators and turtles.

                      Several shoppers, who declined to give their names, described the reports about the delta variant outbreak as “overblown,” “exaggerated” and a “crock of s---.” One woman said that her daughter was hospitalized in an intensive care unit with covid-19 but that she thinks the numbers are exaggerated.

                      Others took more measured views, such as Billy and Alissa Iorg, a couple from nearby Sparta, Mo. Alissa, who is 24 and pregnant with their second child, declined to get vaccinated because she wasn’t sure how the shots would affect the pregnancy. Billy, 26, didn’t see the rush for himself.

                      “It’s no worse than the flu,” he said of the virus, which experts say appears to be far more contagious and deadly than the flu.

                      Fighting a lack of urgency

                      For some young people who haven’t made up their minds about the vaccines, it’s already too late.

                      Olivia Bricker, 21, drove to the health department offices for a throat swab after feeling her head throb. Several co-workers at her retail job tested positive for the virus, as did her 25-year-old live-in boyfriend, who “felt like a sack of potatoes.”

                      Young adults are least likely to be vaccinated and their interest is declining, CDC says

                      They are not anti-vaccine. He previously had the virus. Bricker hadn’t gotten around to getting vaccinated, unsure of which of the three authorized vaccines to choose, and didn’t feel much urgency because older relatives she feared infecting had been immunized.

                      “I feel like it’s one of those things I probably should have just done instead of waiting,” Bricker said.

                      Clayton Reed, 30, was visited at his home by Springfield’s vaccine outreach team. One of Reed’s 25-year-old friends has been bedridden for two weeks after he and his mother contracted the virus. But Reed, 30, isn’t too worried for himself because he works an overnight shift at Walmart and has little interaction with other employees or customers.

                      The day after the outreach team canvassed the neighborhood and left fliers advertising free vaccines at a nearby church, just 19 people showed up.

                      There were still some glimmers of hope that more holdouts would come off the fence. Iliza Branson, 30, arrived with her sister after their aunt’s friend recently died of covid-19 and their employer called workers back to the office.

                      “It’s better to have it than not have it,” said Branson, who said she is a descendant of the family that founded the nearby tourist destination city bearing the same name. “Plus, I have three kids and I don’t want to die because of this.”

                      Facing the prospect of many young people still feeling relatively safe from the virus, vaccine proponents are trying to urge them to protect their elders and friends who have preexisting conditions and may not be as lucky.

                      Colleges are split on mandating coronavirus vaccines

                      Katlyn Mozingo thinks about that social responsibility as she prepares to return to campus, where many of her classmates are in no hurry to get vaccinated.

                      On a Friday evening, Leanne Mozingo’s family gathered in the home where wilted flowers rested on the mantel and grief started to give way to planning life without her.

                      DJ, 22, who has struggled to process the loss of his mother and biggest support system, has been turning more to his grandmother, sister and his mother’s longtime boyfriend, Justin Brown, as he navigates adulthood with autism. The family needs to find a new home, unable to pay the $1,400 rent without Leanne’s disability payments. They plan to hold a garage sale to downsize and raise money for a move.

                      Brown unenthusiastically got his shots after his employer offered two hours of pay for each dose.

                      “I just kind of thought covid in general was a joke and you hear stories about how it had a 97 percent survival rate,” said Brown, 27. “I was around covid in the thick of it for the better part of 30 days, and I’m vaccinated and never got a single symptom.”

                      He added: “Maybe you are getting chipped or all these other conspiracies they’re talking about. But at the end of the day, it’s clearly doing something.”



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                      • #27
                        Missouri’s governor calls new mask mandates ‘disappointing and concerning’

                        Missouri’s governor calls new mask mandates ‘disappointing and concerning’

                        by: Associated Press, Joe Millitzer
                        Posted: Jul 28, 2021 / 01:23 PM CDT / Updated: Jul 28, 2021 / 01:23 PM CDT


                        https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/n...nd-concerning/
                        http://christian-identity.net/forum/...23238#post2328
                        http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...3238#post23238



                        States and businesses scrambled Wednesday to change course after the federal government issued new guidance calling for the return of mask-wearing in virus hot spots amid a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations nationwide.

                        The St. Louis County Council voted Tuesday to reverse the county’s mask mandate, just a day after it became one of the first reinstated in the country.

                        But Democratic County Executive Sam Page insisted Wednesday that the mandate remained in effect and blamed the pushback on politics.

                        “This is a national problem that went all the way up to the top with the last president,” he said. “And we do have some folks in our country who work very hard to undermine public health efforts with a lot of very inflammatory rhetoric.”

                        On the other side of the state, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, promised to provide details Wednesday on his plans to order mask wearing indoors in Missouri’s largest city.

                        “We cannot ignore the rapid spread of the COVID-19 delta variant in Missouri — outpacing much of the country,” he said in a statement. “We will do all we can to ensure our corner of this state is safe.”

                        Meanwhile in Springfield, a hospital began expanding its morgue capacity as the state’s virus death toll soared. Steve Edwards, the CEO of CoxHealth, said his company brought in temporary cooling equipment because 75 patients in area hospitals have died this month.

                        CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that her agency’s updated guidance was prompted by new data suggesting vaccinated people can pass on the virus in rare cases.

                        Governor Parson posted this status update to Facebook:

                        “The recently updated CDC guidance regarding mask wearing for fully vaccinated individuals is disappointing and concerning. It’s disappointing because it is inconsistent with the overwhelming evidence surrounding the efficacy of the vaccines and their proven results, and it only serves to disrupt the increases we are seeing in vaccine uptake. This self-inflicted setback encourages skepticism and vaccine hesitancy at a time when the goal is to prevent serious illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 through vaccination. It’s concerning because the nation’s top public health agency appears to be cowering to the political pressures of those who only want to force mandates and shutdowns, which only further prolong the recovery we as a nation are working towards. This decision only promotes fear and further division among our citizens.”

                        Nevada and Kansas City were among the locations that moved swiftly to re-impose indoor mask mandates following Tuesday’s announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

                        The guidelines also call on all schools to require masks for students, teachers and visitors, and districts around the country tried to navigate the latest advice.

                        In a handful of Republican-led states, lawmakers have made it illegal for schools to require masks. South Carolina’s governor said the state would not reverse its mask restriction, but Arkansas leaders are weighing whether to revisit an April law banning local and state government entities from requiring masks.

                        Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has faced growing calls to lift that ban, at least for schools, as virus cases and hospitalizations surge in the state.

                        Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, said it would reinstate face mask protocols for all employees and visitors at its Missouri and Florida facilities. The two states are among the hardest-hit by the summer surge in which the U.S. is now averaging more than 60,000 new cases a day, driven by the highly contagious delta variant spreading through unvaccinated populations.

                        Other government leaders said they will hold off reinstating mask rules for now.

                        Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said he’s not considering imposing a mask mandate in schools or statewide, though he urged Pennsylvanians to follow federal guidance. The Democrat said state mandates on masks were necessary before there was a vaccine.

                        “People have the ability to make the decision to get a vaccine,” he said, speaking Tuesday on Pittsburgh radio station KDKA-AM. “If they do, that’s the protection.”

                        The CDC’s new guidance applies to places with at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, which is roughly 60% of all U.S. counties, federal officials said.

                        Nearly all of the South and Southwest is subject to the guidance, but most communities in the Northeast — with the exception of major metro areas like New York City and Boston — are exempt for now, according to the CDC’s COVID tracker.

                        Elsewhere, conservative officials pushed back against reviving mask mandates, setting up the potential for a patchwork of regulations within states and counties.

                        “I know this is not a message America wants to hear,” she told CNN. “With prior variants, when people had these rare breakthrough infections, we didn’t see the capacity of them to spread the virus to others, but with the delta variant, we now see that you can actually now pass it to somebody else.”

                        Walensky stressed that COVID vaccines are working by preventing greater levels of hospitalization and death.

                        Unvaccinated people, she also noted, account for the vast number of new infections. Two-thirds of the vaccine-eligible population in the U.S. has received at least one dose.

                        “We can halt the chain of transmission,” she told “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday. “We can do something if we unify together, if we get people vaccinated who are not yet vaccinated. If we mask in the interim, we can halt this in just a matter of a couple of weeks.”

                        In Provincetown, Massachusetts, where officials earlier this week re-imposed an indoor mask requirement following a surge in COVID-19 cases this month, store owner Patrick Patrick says he doesn’t mind asking customers to mask up once more.

                        The owner of Marine Specialties, a long running Army-Navy store, had been leery of officials dropping virus safety mandates ahead of what many expected would be a busy summer season. He even tried to require customers to mask up in his store through the summer, before finally relenting in June.

                        “If we’d stuck with masks all along, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation,” Patrick said, adding that he’s required all his staff to be masked and vaccinated. “They’re not entirely fun, but we wore them all last summer, and we didn’t have a single case in Provincetown. Now see where we’re at.”

                        As of Tuesday, the town had reported more than 750 cases of COVID-19 associated with the most recent cluster, which started around the busy July 4th holiday. Officials have said many cases are so-called breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. Three people have been hospitalized, but no one has died.

                        Patrick says the business drop-off has been significant, but he hopes the return of masks helps brings visitors peace of mind.

                        “I don’t see masks as bad for business,” he said. “Maybe for a nightclub or bar it is. But if it gets people back out and feeling safe, it’s worth it. We take care of public health and safety, the dollars and cents will take care of themselves.”

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