Tag Archives: Prior

US

Issa slams ‘betrayal’ as State Dept admits number of Americans still in Afghanistan higher than prior claims

Leave a comment

The State Department on Friday conceded that there are significantly more Americans in Afghanistan than previously estimated — leading to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and other Republicans to accuse the administration of a “betrayal” of Americans abroad.

State Department officials briefed congressional staff this week and told them that it is in touch with 363 Americans in Afghanistan and nearly 176 legal permanent residents, a congressional source who was on the call told Fox News.

SAN DIEGO COUPLE TRAPPED IN AFGHANISTAN RETURNING TO US AFTER WEEKS OF TALIBAN HARASSMENT, DARRELL ISSA SAYS 

That 363 number is significantly higher than previous estimates by the Biden administration, which had put the number at around 100 in September — and is only the number with whom the State Dept. is in contact. CNN first reported the 363 figure.

It comes amid continuing fallout from the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan ahead of the Aug 31 withdrawal deadline — which saw a scramble of Americans and Afghans trying to get out of the country before the Taliban took over.

At a press briefing Friday, State Department spokesman Ned Price did not confirm to reporters the number the department was in touch with as a whole — but said that the number of Americans who actually wish to leave was at one point below 100 but was now between 100 and 200 amid a fluid situation on the ground.

“That figure has risen in recent days as more Americans in Afghanistan have decided to depart in light of our successful facilitation of dozens of departures in recent weeks,” he said.

So far the State Department has facilitated the departure of 234 citizens and 144 lawful permanent residents, he said.

Issa, who has been working to evacuate a number of Americans stuck in Afghanistan back to the United States, said he saw the numbers as proof the administration had lied about the withdrawal.

CNN GIVES BIDEN A PASS ON AFGHANISTAN, COMPLETELY IGNORES TOPIC DURING 90-MINUTE TOWN HALL 

“What we long suspected is now confirmed: what the White House calls a historically successful airlift was in reality the worst ever betrayal of American citizens in a foreign land,” he told Fox News. “So they lied about it from the beginning.”

Issa’s reaction was shared by Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who accused the administration of having shamelessly and repeatedly lied about the number of Americans trapped behind Taliban lines. 

“For weeks, their official number was ‘about a hundred’ and it magically never changed — as Americans slowly got out the total number never went down,” he said.

The staffer who was on the call suggested there were many more the State Department was not yet in touch with, perhaps because they are scared to come forward out of fear of reprisals by the Taliban.

“What about the people they’re not in touch with?” the staffer told Fox News. “Those who are scared to speak out, how do you put a number on that, or that are scared to use WhatsApp or text a +1 American number, or to even text in English?” they said.

The staffer told Fox that the State Department said it was working with third parties to get people out of Afghanistan, setting up conduits to streamline the process — while admitting that the guidance had been confusing about what chartered flights needed to take off and land in assisting with the evacuation effort.

On Friday, Price said the department’s goal is to make flights out of Kabul more routine in order to facilitate even more departures of Americans and others — “and we are committed to doing so.”

“We’ve also consistently said there’s a slightly larger universe of Americans with whom we’re in touch and who are not yet ready, for whatever reason, to leave,” he said. “That number is also far from immutable as Americans reach out to us, and given the dynamic – the very dynamic nature of human decision-making.” 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Friday, Issa announced that an American citizen, Prince Wafa, who had worked as a translator and traveled to Afghanistan to bring his wife home, had been successfully evacuated. Issa’s office said it was in contact regularly with the man, as well as State Dept. personnel. The man had previously written to President Biden pleading for help.

“Prince Wafa provided outstanding support for our troops and bravely served our country when we were in need,” Issa said in a release. “This time, he risked all by returning to Afghanistan to bring his wife home. The Biden Administration left them behind and we didn’t rest until they were on their way home.”

As the situation in Afghanistan continues to unfold, the staffer who spoke to Fox said that the situation felt like the administration “has broken a social contract between America and its citizens.”

“When I go overseas there’s never a question in my mind that if something happened that blue passport would get me out of trouble — I have doubts about that now.”

Read original article here

Health

The Day – How much immunity does a prior COVID-19 infection give, and why isn’t it considered with vaccine mandates?

Leave a comment

Here is a FAQ answering that and other questions The Day has been hearing recently.

How much natural immunity against COVID-19 do people get from a prior infection, and why can’t natural immunity be used to opt out of vaccine and testing mandates?

Doctors and researchers generally agree that people who previously were infected with COVID-19 and also got vaccinated are the most protected. But the science is still evolving on how much immunity prior infection confers — which may depend on the severity of the infection and the coronavirus variant circulating — and how long protection lasts.

“It’s been very difficult to ascertain how the vaccine and natural immunity compare to each other,” Dr. Shira Doron of Tufts Medical Center told NBC10 Boston last month. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson Kristen Nordlund recently told NBC News, “We hope to have some additional information on the protectiveness of vaccine immunity compared to natural immunity in the coming weeks.”

In a study released Aug. 6, the CDC looked at Kentucky adults who were infected with the coronavirus in 2020, and people who were and weren’t reinfected in May or June of this year. The study found that unvaccinated people were 2.34 times more likely to be reinfected.

One of the limitations the authors listed is that “persons who have been vaccinated are possibly less likely to get tested. Therefore, the association of reinfection and lack of vaccination might be overestimated.”

That is the opposite of a limitation that Emory University biostatistician Natalie Dean shared about a different study: Previously infected people may be less likely to get tested than vaccinated people because they think they’re immune.

She talked to the journal Science about a study Israeli researchers released in August based on the database of a health care organization that enrolls about 2.5 million Israelis.

Comparing more than 32,000 people who either got their second Pfizer dose or were infected in January or February, one model found the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 was 27 times higher among the vaccinated than those with a previous infection, and the risk of hospitalization eight times higher. But the latter was just based on eight hospitalizations among the fully vaccinated and one of a previously infected person.

Using a model that included people who were infected in 2020, the researchers found evidence of waning natural immunity, but the risk of symptomatic disease was still seven times higher for vaccinated but never-infected people.

This study hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, and the preprint server medRxiv cautions that the medical research “has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.”

Dr. Richard Martinello, medical director for infection prevention for Yale New Haven Health, said more studies will need to be done to confirm the findings. He said we’ve always known people develop immunity after infection, but the question is whether it’s good enough.

Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health analyzed data from close relatives of the COVID-19 virus to model the risk of reinfection over time. They said reinfection “under endemic conditions would likely occur between 3 and 63 months after peak antibody response, with a median of 16 months.”

“Those who have been naturally infected should get vaccinated. Previous infection alone can offer very little long-term protection against subsequent infections,” lead author Jeffrey Townsend said. This study was published in The Lancet Microbe on Oct. 1.

A Cleveland Clinic study released in June, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed, found that 99.3% of employee infections between Dec. 16 and May 15 occurred among those who were unvaccinated and not previously infected. In those five months, COVID-19 didn’t occur among any of the 2,579 previously infected individuals, including 1,359 people who were unvaccinated.

Some organizations in Connecticut responded to questions about why they opted not to allow prior infection as an exemption from vaccine and testing mandates.

“The science on immunity from natural infection with COVID is evolving. Some people develop very strong immunity and others don’t,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said in an email. “Vaccination after getting COVID reliably produces immunity which is why we continue to recommend getting vaccinated despite having had COVID. This recommendation may change over time as we evaluate more scientific data.”

Martinello said Yale New Haven Health didn’t consider natural immunity as an exemption, because natural immunity is not as consistently established as immunity conferred by a vaccine.

A University of California Irvine School of Medicine professor challenged the UC system’s vaccine mandate, saying he had immunity from a prior infection, but a federal judge upheld the vaccine requirement in a ruling on Sept. 30.

The Michigan hospital system Spectrum Health said last month it would grant an exemption from its employee vaccine mandate to people who have a positive PCR or antigen test for COVID-19 plus a positive antibody test from the past three months, The Detroit News reported.

Some other countries accept a certificate of recovery in addition to proof of vaccination or a negative test: For both the EU Digital COVID Certificate and the Green Pass in Israel, a certificate of recovery is valid for six months.

How do school nurses handle students with COVID-19 symptoms?

School nurses here are relying on guidance from DPH, the state Department of Education and Ledge Light Health District.

Addendum 5 from DPH and the education department, which has been revised multiple times, says an individual who has COVID-19 symptoms but hasn’t had close contact with a coronavirus-positive person should stay home, notify the school immediately and get tested.

If at school, “Students should remain masked, adhere to strict physical distancing, be assessed by the school nurse or school medical advisor (if available), stay in the isolation room (with adult supervision), until picked up to go home. Parents should be instructed to consult a healthcare provider and have the student tested.”

Students who test negative can return to school after 24 hours with no fever, or can return without test results if a health care provider “provides documentation with a specific, confirmed alternate diagnosis.”

The addendum has different protocols for close contacts, which depend on vaccination status and whether symptoms are present.

Annie Ryan, nurse at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School in New London, said that about two weeks ago, she had to send home 17 kids in two days.

“I explain it to the parents,” she said, “and some of them understand, and some of them are screaming in your face, like, ‘Why did you send my kid home, because they just have a cold?'”

Ryan is president of the union that represents nurses for the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeastern Connecticut, which supplies nurses for schools in New London, Waterford, East Lyme and Groton.

Maria Kostopoulos, nurse at Clark Lane Middle School in Waterford, said one primary symptom or two secondary symptoms is enough for her to second a kid home. She said primary symptoms are fever, chills, loss of taste or smell, uncontrolled cough and shortness of breath.

Secondary symptoms include things like a sore throat, congestion, runny nose, nausea, headache and fatigue.

“The symptoms are very vague, so it’s hard to figure out who to send home and who not to send home,” Kostopoulos said, “so a lot of it goes with if you know these children’s medical history. Are they prone to allergies?”

“It’s multifaceted, and it’s dealing with families when they’re fragile and scared, and you don’t know what their situations are at home,” she said. Sending kids home is a hardship on parents, especially if they have to wait a few days to get a test scheduled and then a few days to get results.

Kostopoulos said what’s striking is boards of education “can adopt the policies in their own way, with a little bit of discretion,” so protocols vary town to town.

“I don’t think there’s a one size fits all (approach),” Lyme-Old Lyme Superintendent Ian Neviaser said. He added, “It really depends on the specific situation. We don’t require, per se, the student provide a negative COVID test in every situation, because that would be in some cases a little ridiculous. If a kid has one symptom and it goes away immediately, the chances of them having COVID are pretty slim.”

Where can I get tested?

Ledge Light Health District is offering free COVID-19 testing four days a week at four locations, for symptomatic and asymptomatic people, with no appointment required.

Testing is Tuesdays from 3 to 7 p.m. at the City of Groton Municipal Building, Wednesdays from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Waterford Public Library, Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at Stonington Human Services and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. at the New London Senior Center.

Uncas Health District and UCFS Healthcare are offering free drive-thru testing at Dodd Stadium in Norwich on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m.

Through Yale New Haven Health, people can get tested at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London or Mohegan Sun. To schedule an appointment, visit covidtesting2.ynhhs.org or call (833) 275-9644. Martinello said when people get tested because they’re sick, the results come back within 24 hours more than 99% of the time.

CVS test scheduling is available at bit.ly/cvscvdtst, but not every site offers rapid testing or testing for asymptomatic people, and appointments may not be available the same day or the next day.

What do I do if I lose my COVID-19 vaccine card?

There are a few options to obtain proof of vaccination, such as contacting your vaccination provider to request a copy. If you got vaccinated through Yale New Haven Health or Hartford HealthCare, you can respectively log on to MyChart or MyChartPLUS to download your vaccination record.

You can log on to the Vaccine Administration Management System, or VAMS, if you scheduled your appointment that way.

Immunization records also are available from the CT Immunization Information System, or CT WiZ, by visiting bit.ly/ctwizportal or calling (860) 509-7929.

e.moser@theday.com



Read original article here

Sports

Cristiano Ronaldo drills woman with soccer ball during warmups prior to Champions League match

Leave a comment

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo drilled a female steward during warmups prior to Manchester United’s Champions League matchup against BSC Young Boys of Switzerland on Tuesday.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Ronaldo was practicing a free kick when he booted the soccer ball over the crossbar and it hit the stadium worker in the back of the head. She immediately fell to the ground.

Soccer Football – Champions League – Group F – BSC Young Boys v Manchester United – Stadion Wankdorf, Bern, Switzerland- September 14, 2021 A steward lies on the floor after she was hit by a ball from Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Soccer Football – Champions League – Group F – BSC Young Boys v Manchester United – Stadion Wankdorf, Bern, Switzerland- September 14, 2021 Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo checks on a steward after she was hit by a ball during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC FIRES BACK AT LEBRON JAMES: ‘SPORTS AND POLITICS ARE 2 DIFFERENT CATEGORIES’

The woman was on the ground for a few minutes, and that’s when Ronaldo went over to her to check and see if she was OK. The steward eventually came back up to her feet with security guards and Ronaldo nearby.

Ronaldo gifted the woman one of his No. 7 jerseys as an apology.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In the 13th minute of Manchester United’s game against BSC Young Boys, Ronaldo scored a goal to put his side up 1-0. However, the opposition managed to score two goals to come from behind and upset one of the Premier League’s top teams.

Read original article here

US

Biden faces pressure from allies on Afghanistan deadline prior to G7 meeting, Taliban issues warning

Leave a comment

European allies are applying pressure on the Biden administration to extend the Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawing from Afghanistan despite warnings from the Taliban against crossing a “red line,” according to a report.

G7 leaders are scheduled to meet on Tuesday via video conference to discuss the ongoing challenges in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

FORMER UNITED KINGDOM COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN CALLS FOR BIDEN TO BE ‘COURT-MARTIALED’

France, the UK and Germany have all mentioned extending the deadline in order to carry out an orderly exit, the BBC reported.

“We are concerned about the deadline set by the United States on August 31,” Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s foreign minister, told the network. “Additional time is needed to complete ongoing operations.”

SCHIFF SAYS KABUL AIRPORT A ‘VERY ATTRACTIVE TARGET’ FOR ISIS-K, AL QAEDA

Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, was asked Monday about the administration’s plans. He said the team is “engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban on every aspect of what’s happening in Kabul right now.”

The Pentagon said in a Monday briefing that it will consider leaving American troops in Afghanistan past August 31, in consultation with Biden and allies, but dismissed the idea of the U.S. military taking back Bagram Airfield to speed up evacuations. 

Taliban officials told Reuters that they are unwilling to extend the deadline and the “occupation” by U.S. forces. The group warned about “consequences” if the deadline is extended and called the move a “red line.”

“It’s a red line. President Biden announced that on ​Aug. 31 they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it, that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News. ​

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to try and persuade the U.S. to extend the deadline during the G7 meeting, the BBC reported. But Ben Wallace, the British defense minister, told Reuters that it seems unlikely that there will be an extension.

Twenty-eight U.S. military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over 24 hours that ended early Monday morning, and 15 C-17 flights over the next 12 hours brought out another 6,660, White House officials said.

Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said the faster pace of evacuation was due in part to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees into the airport.

GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Thus far, and going forward, it does require constant coordination and deconfliction with the Taliban,” Kirby said. “What we’ve seen is, this deconfliction has worked well in terms of allowing access and flow as well as reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport.”

Fox News’ Cameron Cawthorne and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Read original article here

Science

Boeing to Launch Spaceship for NASA After Prior Failure

Leave a comment

Boeing’s Starliner spaceship will attempt to redeem itself on Tuesday, after botching its last major test flight in 2019.

The company’s eventual goal is to fly astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, the way SpaceX already does. Both companies developed their launch systems through NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a competition that awarded funding to private companies in order to develop new astronaut-ready spacecraft.

But before carrying people, the Starliner has to complete an uncrewed test flight to and from the ISS as part of NASA’s certification process. That mission, called Orbital Flight Test 2, or OFT-2, is set to launch on Tuesday at 1:20 p.m. ET. Starliner will blast off atop an Atlas V rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Boeing first attempted this flight in December 2019, but it turned out that one of the spaceship’s clocks was set 11 hours ahead of schedule. The clock prompted the spaceship’s engines to fire too vigorously, too early — a move meant to come at a later stage of the mission.

That caused the spaceship to burn through 25% of its fuel, forcing Boeing to skip docking with the space station in order to save the Starliner from total failure.

Now, the company is confident that it has fixed the problems with its spaceship, so it’s time for the do-over.

“Now’s the right time. This team is ready to go, this vehicle is ready to go,” Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s human-spaceflight directorate, said in a press briefing last week.

Watch Starliner launch live

NASA plans to broadcast the launch in the stream below starting at 12:30 p.m. ET.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF9LpNpNjNI

If all goes according to plan, the Atlas V booster should fall away after about four minutes. That leaves the rocket’s upper stage to give Starliner one final push into Earth’s orbit before it, too, separates from the capsule. Starliner should orbit Earth alone overnight, slowly lining itself up to meet the ISS the next day.

“That’s the part of this flight that, to me, is so critical: docking with station and then also, on the back end as well, going through that whole undock sequence,” Steve Stich, who manages NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a briefing.



A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41 on December 20, 2019, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Joel Kowsky/NASA



If the spaceship successfully latches onto a port on the ISS, astronauts on the station will then open its hatch and unload its cargo — science equipment and supplies. After that, the Starliner is scheduled to stay docked to the ISS to test out its systems and its endurance in space, until it returns to Earth a few days later.

The launch was originally set for Friday afternoon, but had to be delayed after a mishap on the ISS. Russia’s new module, Nauka, fired its engines unexpectedly after docking to the station on Thursday, which rotated the ISS 45 degrees. Flight controllers regained control about an hour later.

“We wanted to make sure we had some breathing room to fully assess the situation on station before adding another vehicle,” Lueders said in a briefing on Thursday.

Boeing’s investigation into the failed flight revealed further problems



An illustration of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spaceship orbiting Earth.

Boeing


During Boeing’s test flight in 2019, the company’s engineers quickly reviewed the spacecraft’s software while Starliner was still orbiting Earth. In doing so, they discovered and patched another issue — not the clock error — that could have been catastrophic.

As Starliner prepares to fall back to Earth, it’s supposed to shed its service module — a cylinder containing the spaceship’s main engines. That part is meant to fall away from the crew module, which holds the astronauts. But this second software error could have led the service module to bounce back and crash into the crew module. That could have sent the astronauts’ capsule tumbling or significantly damaged its protective heat shield, making it unsafe to plow through the atmosphere.

The discovery of that issue prompted a NASA investigation into Boeing’s coding and overall safety culture. NASA administrators at the time said the software issue was likely a symptom of larger problems at the company. But now, Stich said, “Boeing has an excellent safety culture.”

Boeing has fixed both issues and changed some of the spaceship’s communications software. 

“There’s always a little bit of that trepidation in you,” Stich said. “This is spaceflight. The Atlas is a great vehicle. Starliner is a great vehicle. But we know how hard it is, and it’s a test flight as well. And I fully expect we’ll learn something on this test flight.”

Why NASA needs Boeing

Assuming Starliner can make it to the ISS and back without major issues, its next step will be to do that again with astronauts onboard — a crewed test flight. If everything goes smoothly, that flight could launch by the end of this year, Stich said.



Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is stacked atop an Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 17, 2021.

Boeing



NASA is relying on both Boeing and SpaceX to replace the government-developed Space Shuttle, which stopped flying in 2011. After that, NASA relied solely on Russian Soyuz rockets to ferry its astronauts to and from the ISS. Then SpaceX’s Crew Dragon passed the agency’s tests, flying its first astronauts to the ISS last year. SpaceX has flown two full crews since then.

NASA hopes to add Starliner to its fleet soon so that the agency is no longer reliant on just one launch system.

This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on July 28, 2021.

Read original article here

US

Psaki says there have been prior breakthrough cases among White House staff

Leave a comment

“There have been. I will say that we, according to an agreement we made during the transition to be transparent and make information available, we committed that we would release information proactively if it is commissioned officers,” Psaki said when asked if there had been other breakthrough cases among White House staff.

A White House “commissioned officer” is any official who has a version of “assistant to the President” in their title. According to a July report to Congress on White House personnel, there are over 130 staffers at that level.
CNN reported earlier Tuesday that a White House official and a senior aide in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, who are both fully vaccinated, have tested positive for Covid-19. Axios was first to report the breakthrough cases.

Psaki later clarified the White House official who tested positive was not a commissioned officer, but declined to say what office the official worked in, citing privacy concerns. None of the other positive cases were commissioned officers, either, she said, explaining that the White House would have proactively released that information.

Psaki declined to say how many breakthrough cases had been recorded, or what level of staff was affected.

She also confirmed the case reported earlier Tuesday on the record.

“Yesterday, a fully vaccinated White House official tested positive for Covid-19 off campus. In accordance with our rigorous Covid-19 protocols, the official remains off campus as they wait for confirmatory PCR test,” Psaki said.

She said that the White House Medical Unit has conducted contact tracing interviews and “determined no close contacts, among White House principals or staff or the President.”

Psaki said that the official has “mild symptoms.”

“We know that there will be breakthrough cases. But as this incident shows, cases in vaccinated individuals are typically mild. The White House is prepared for breakthrough cases with regular testing. This is another reminder of the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines against severe illness or hospitalizations,” she said.

She added, “Our protocols are in alignment with the highest standards of the guidance of our public health experts,” noting that those surrounding and meeting with the President are subject to “regular testing” and are following US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on mask wearing and distancing.

Staff has also been asked to self-monitor and stay off the White House campus if they develop symptoms.

Psaki also declined to characterize a trip by the Texas House Democrats to Washington as a “super spreader event” now that multiple officials in contact with the group have tested positive for breakthrough infections.

Read original article here

Entertainment

Davey Boy Smith Jr. works dark match prior to WWE SmackDown

Leave a comment

Davey Boy Smith Jr. appeared in a dark match prior to tonight’s SmackDown.

Smith teamed with Austin Theory to take on Odyssey Jones and Xyon Quinn (formerly Daniel Vidot). Smith was billed under his real name, Harry Smith. In another dark match, Xia Li wrestled Aliyah.

Originally signed by WWE in 2006, Smith was released by WWE in 2011 and spent most of the last decade teaming with Lance Archer as the Killer Elite Squad in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where they won the IWGP Tag Team titles on three occasions. Smith left NJPW in 2019 and has worked dates with MLW since his departure. He also attended the WWE Hall of Fame indcution ceremony this year, where his father The British Bulldog was inducted.

Tonight’s SmackDown at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas is the first television taping to take place in front of fans since March of 2020. WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, Florida has been the only WWE event to be held with a live audience since then.

Read original article here

Health

City of Orlando brings mobile vaccine sites to neighborhood centers prior to start of school year

Leave a comment

Push on to get children vaccinated before school year begins



SUMMER: THE CITY OF ORLANDO WANTS YOUR KIDS TO BE VACCINATED FOR COD-VI19 BEFORE THE START OF NEXT SCHOOL YEAR. JIM: STARTING XTNE WEEK VACCINATION SITES WILL OPEN AT SEVEN CENTERS. MICHELLE: E THCITY OF ORLANDO IS TRYING SOMETHING NEW. THEY’RE GOING TO OPEN VACCINATION SITES WHERTHEE TARGET WILL BE CHILDREN WHAREO D OLENOUGH TO QUALITY FOR THE CURRENT VACCIN.ES THAT’S CHILDREN 12 AND DEOLR, MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLERS. THE PLAN — GET AS MANY VACCINATED BEFORE SCHOOL CRANKS BACK UP. SEVEN ORLANDO NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS WILL PLAY HOST FOR ONE-DAY EVENTS. >> WE DO THEM ATHE T NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS BECAUSE FAMILIES AND CHILDREN ARE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH THOSE LOCATIONS. IT IS COMFORTABLE TO GO TO. EVERYBODY KNOWS WHERE IT IS. MICHELLE: PFIZER WILL BE THE VACCINE OFFERED TO CHILDREN SINCE IT’S THE ONLY ONE APPROVED, AND KIDS WILL NEED A PARENT OR GUARDIAN THERE TO GIVE CONSENT. >> ABSOLUTELY. I THINK IT’S AWESOME. MICHELLE: THE PRESIDENT OF ORANGE COUNTY’S TEACHER’S UNION SAYS SHE’S ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY WITH 100% FACE-TO-FACE LEARNING KICKING IN FO R THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE PANDEMIC STARTED, BUT IS ALSO DISCOURAGED. >> BUT WE DO KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT GOING TO GET VACCINATED, AND THERE WILL BE CHILDREN IN EVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT HAVE NOT BNEE VACCINATED. MICHELLE: ALTHOUGH THE VACCINE SITES WILL BE FOCUSED ON CHILDREN, ANYONE OF ANY AGE CAN GET VACCINATED. BESIDES PFIZER, THE CITY WILL ALSO OFFER THE ONE SHOT JOHNSON & JOHNSON. THE FIRST SITE THAT WI OLLPEN WILL BE RIGHT HERE AT THE ENGELWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER, AND IT WIL

Push on to get children vaccinated before school year begins

The City of Orlando is bringing mobile vaccine sites to residents in their neighborhoods over the next few weeks, officials said.Seven Orlando neighborhood centers will host one-day vaccine sites, offering both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Residents age 18 and up are eligible to receive either brand vaccine, and those ages 12-17 can receive the Pfizer vaccine with guardian consent. No pre-registration is required at these vaccine sites, according to health officials.Learn more about the mobile vaccine sites at neighborhood centers by visiting orlando.gov/mobilevaccines.

ORLANDO, Fla. —

The City of Orlando is bringing mobile vaccine sites to residents in their neighborhoods over the next few weeks, officials said.

Seven Orlando neighborhood centers will host one-day vaccine sites, offering both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Residents age 18 and up are eligible to receive either brand vaccine, and those ages 12-17 can receive the Pfizer vaccine with guardian consent. No pre-registration is required at these vaccine sites, according to health officials.

Learn more about the mobile vaccine sites at neighborhood centers by visiting orlando.gov/mobilevaccines.

Read original article here

US

Judge denies Florida pet advocate’s request to search for missing animals prior to condo demolition: report

Leave a comment

In an emergency hearing, a judge in Florida on Sunday night denied a pet advocate’s request to search for missing animals inside the partially collapsed Surfside condo building before the standing portion of the building was demolished, according to a report.

One missing animal, Coco the cat, was believed to still be on the fourth floor of the Champlain Towers building – before it was brought down by explosives in a controlled demolition after 10 p.m. ET Sunday, the Miami Herald reported.

The decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman was a disappointment to Stacey Karron, 57, who volunteers to rescue animals, the newspaper reported.

SURFSIDE CONDO BUILDING’S STANDING PORTION BROUGHT DOWN WITH EXPLOSIVES

Karron, who lives in Broward County, had requested that she be allowed inside the still-standing portion of the building in Miami-Dade County to look for any pets she could find, according to the Herald.

“My goal was just to go down there and try and rescue any pets if I was allowed,” Karron said. “I have experience with animal rescue and I volunteered to go in.”

Karron acknowledged there would be risk involved in entering a structure that was considered unstable following the June 24 partial collapse – but she offered to not hold anyone else responsible if any harm came to her during the proposed search, a court filing posted by Herald reporter David Ovalle said.

She also agreed not to remove any items from the building and to keep her search focused strictly on her missing cat, the document said.

But Hanzman denied her request late Sunday, the Herald reported.

On June 28, four days after the partial collapse, City of Miami firefighters working at the Surfside condo site used a cherry-picker truck to leave some food and water on the balcony of the resident’s fourth-floor unit in hopes Coco would find them, the Herald reported.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Search and rescue crews had turned some attention toward missing pets after searching strictly for people in the initial days following the collapse, the newspaper reported.

It was unclear at the time how many total pets may have gone missing in the collapse.

As of late Sunday, 24 people were confirmed dead in the disaster and 121 people remained missing.

Read original article here

Health

People Jump the Line to Get Vaccine Prior to Eligibility – NBC Bay Area

Leave a comment

Unfair and entitled – that’s how many are describing people who jump the line and get the vaccine before they’re eligible.   

Many know at least one person who exaggerated their health condition or had their boss classify them as a frontline worker in order to jump the line — experts calling the hyper-competitive behavior the “hunger games for vaccines.”

Karla Salazar, childcare workers in San Francisco, describes the lengths some people are going to to get the COVID-19 vaccine as “crazy,” including lying about being an essential worker.

“They say, ‘oh I work as a nurse’ and they take the badges from friends,” she said.

On Monday, millions more Californians with serious underlying health conditions and disabilities became eligible for the vaccine. 

San Francisco went a step further including the homeless, inmates, and others in high-risk congregate settings. 

But as the vaccine opens to more people, so does the opportunity for more line jumping and vaccine cheating. 

“It’s a competition, and it shouldn’t be,” said UCSF Epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford. “I think people have to have larger society goals in mind which is to stop transmission.”

He says taking an appointment away from someone who lives in a high-transmission area makes the pandemic harder to fight. 

“We don’t want the hunger games for vaccines,” Rutherford said. “There’s a logic to this, and please wait your turn.”

Some agree. 

“That’s just not fair,” said Soon Tani Beccaria Mochizuki of San Francisco. “People who genuinely need the vaccine deserve it first.”

While others say vaccinating anyone will help us get to herd immunity.

“You know what? The more people who get vaccinated, that’s the most important thing,” said Shawn Gupta of San Francisco. “Better for all of us, so let’s just get it done.”

The city of San Francisco requires everyone to check a box and sign their name swearing they’re eligible to get the vaccine, but some say purely relying on people’s honesty makes it too easy to cheat the system.

Below is more information from the San Francisco COVID Command Center

We have advised all San Francisco vaccination providers with the below guidelines regarding verification of eligibility:

  • Use reasonable processes to verify that persons presenting for vaccination meet eligibility criteria, while avoiding overly burdensome documentation requirements that create barriers to vaccination. 
  • Workers in different job sectors differ in the documentation available that could verify their job status. Providers may adopt methods that include but are not limited to checking work identification badges, pay stubs, or letters from employers, recognizing that in some circumstances it may be more feasible as well as more equitable to rely instead on obtaining the vaccine’s signed attestation of their workforce sector. 
  • Ultimately it is up to the vaccinating entity to decide on the appropriate process for verifying eligibility, however vaccinating sites that are serving populations and communities that are disproportionately affected by COVID19 should ensure that access to vaccines is low-barrier. 
  • This communication will be updated should additional guidance on eligibility verification be published by CDPH.



Read original article here